Earlier this summer, the story around NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal, president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, was at the center of much controversy when it was revealed that Dolezal, who has both identified as a black woman and claimed to have been victim of hate crimes, is in fact white.
Dolezal's "white" lie (pardoning the pun) left many bewildered, including Dolezal herself, who when interviewed by media outlets couldn't understand what, exactly, she'd done wrong.
Reactions to Dolezal's story continue to run the gamut. While on the one hand many seem amused by her attempts to "pass" as a black woman, on the other there are those who note that her case suggests much more than the ways in which cultural appropriation has become an acceptable practice in our country. In fact, her case, allows for discussions about notions of passing, black womanhood, racial identity and white privilege, among others. At the top center of Dolezal's story is her hair: "natural" sometimes, braided or dreadlocked on other occasions.
The following tweets (posted on thehuffingtonpost.com by 06/12/2015 5:31 pm EDT) deal with passing and, specifically, with Dolezal's hair. A couple of questions to consider:
- What about Rachel's hair becomes important when discussing issues of racial identity and passing?
- Could Rachel Dolezal have gotten away with her impersonation of an African-American woman had her hair been different?
- What types of stereotypes did her hair both rely on and further promote in the process?
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