The Rachel Divide

BCA talk sparks a conversation between HPU students of different cultures. Students speak out about the effect Rachel Dolezal has had on her family and the nation. Netflix Documentary The Rachel Divide shines a light on her newsworthy allegations in regards to her race.

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Rachel Dolezal is the former president of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington. Believes if there is no justice then there will be no peace. She failed to answer interview question about her ethnicity after being asked by reporter, “are you African American?”. Following her interview she resigned her position as the NAACP president. Rachel was living a double life, but that came to an end after her white birth parents publicly spoke out about who their daughter really is.  She was biologically born by two white parents, yet identifies as black. Rachel’s family also adopted four black children and that’s when her connection became deeper for the culture. After many years Rachel gained custody of her brother and adopted him as her son. Izaiah led to the reasoning why she racially identified as black. Many call her a conaritst. She thinks being white does not describe who she is. Members of the NAACP questioned her integrity after hearing about Rachel lying about her race, and she never had a backstory to backup how strongly she felt about Civil Rights. Even though Rachel received a lot of negative publicity, before being “outed” she did a lot of positive deeds within her community especially for African Americans. The media actively compared her “blackness” to the well known Caitlyn Jenner story about sexual identity. In 2016 race, sexual, and religious identities were hot topics within the world. Transracial...is it a term that can be accepted? How do we define race?

Who is Rachel Dolezal?

She has now the author of a book In Full Color; which shares her story and has received both positive as well as negative feedback. Rachel said, “she will never subject herself to the punishment of her parents”. She has now legally changed her name to Nkechi Amare Dialllo as her next step to the rest of her life.