To the Editor:
As an African-American woman of similar physical appearance to Rachel Dolezal, I read about her with interest. Rather than offend, her story makes me question what would make a white girl want to be a member of a historically scorned group.
My parents were both light-skinned African-Americans. Growing up in Compton, Calif., in the black-is-beautiful era, I was ever conscious of my extremely light skin. That it offered me a certain freedom was a reality I fought long and hard to ignore. I could walk down a crowded street unnoticed even as my brown-skinned brother would cause the same people to cross the street.
It was not until I moved to a rural part of New York that I got a chance to really live in and experience white America. Sadly, in faculty lounges there was always a colleague weighing in on some issue of color with bigoted zeal, forgetting my race because of my light skin.
I don’t see any real pathology in Ms. Dolezal’s desire to live in a different skin. I only see questions that need addressing by everyone. What if she just got sick and tired of being the fly on the wall, hearing thoughtless racist comments made even more despicable by the assumption that all those with white skin feel the same way? Maybe the pathology in this story lies not with Ms. Dolezal but with a race-obsessed culture in which happiness is apparently only skin-deep.
GWEN DAVIS-FELDMAN
Cameron Mills, N.Y.
Note from KBJ: "What would make a white girl want to be a member of a historically scorned group"? Gee, I don't know. Could it be the fact that this "historically scorned group" is now privileged? The privileges include (1) being given preference at work and in institutions of higher education, (2) not being held accountable for one's actions, and (3) being able to accuse one's critics of being racist, bigoted, and prejudiced. Rachel Dolezal saw all this and wanted to get in on the action. Prediction: It's going to get much, much worse.
