Cda Press editorial: Because the truth matters
There is no joy or sense of vindication in exposing Rachel Dolezal. Just sadness.
Dolezal is purporting to be what she almost certainly is not: a mixed-race African-American woman. The two people who should know her ethnicity - her biological parents - swear their daughter is caucasian. And they have the birth certificate backing up their claim.
So why does it matter? What elevates this bizarre story from personal to very public? And if the newspaper is truly interested in helping North Idaho shed its image as a place where skin color matters, why wouldn’t we just look the other way?
Now Dolezal is a professor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University, where she also serves as adviser to the Black Student Union. She’s a contributing writer to the Pacific Northwest Inlander, leader of the Spokane chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and chair of a Spokane police oversight committee. All of that raises the most important question: Would she be where she is today if she said she was white?
Full column here.
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Huckleberries Online." Read all stories from this blog