Day: June 17, 2015

  • Rachel Dolezal is a white woman who has for some years identified as black. She wasn’t lying about who she is. She was lying about a lie.

  • Passing for black? Now that’s a twist Cable News Network (CNN) 2015-06-12 Lisa Respers France, Senior producer, CNN Digital (CNN)—”In this day and age who in the world willingly wants to be black?” I jokingly said that to my husband when news about Rachel Dolezal broke. Dolezal, 37, is president of the Spokane, Washington, chapter…

  • Rachel Dolezal has a right to be black Cable News Network (CNN) 2016-06-16 Camile Gear Rich, Professor of Law and Sociology Gould School of Law University of Southern California (CNN)—When it comes to identity, America takes one step forward and two steps back. On Monday, Rachel Dolezal, the head of the Spokane chapter of the…

  • Black Mexicans face considerable hurdles Compton Herald 2015-06-05 Alexis Okeowo Mexicanos negros (black Mexicans) face considerable hurdles; Afro-Mexicans are marginalized and excluded to the point that it is impossible to find any mention of them in official records The first town of freed African slaves in the Americas is not exactly where you would expect…

  • Is being Hispanic a matter of race, ethnicity or both? Pew Research Center 2015-06-15 Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, Research Associate Mark Hugo Lopez, Director of Hispanic Research When it comes to reporting their racial identity, Latinos stand out from other Americans. In the 2010 census, for example, 94% of the U.S. population selected at least one of…

  • ‘We Are Not Alone’: Festival Celebrates Multiracial America NBC News 2015-06-12 Frances Kai-Hwa Wang Nearly 700 people from across the country—including artists, writers, comedians, musicians, multiracial and multicultural families—are expected to gather at the Mixed Remixed Festival on June 13 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, to celebrate the stories and lives…

  • The “one-drop rule,” which, for much of American history, legally defined as black anyone with a black ancestor, was used to keep black people from adopting whiteness. Ironically, it has made it easier for Ms. [Rachel] Dolezal to claim blackness without others questioning the assertion. If they are not themselves of a similar hue to Ms.…

  • How Fluid Is Racial Identity? Room for Debate The New York Times 2015-06-17 Heidi W. Durrow, Novelist Amanda Kay Erekson, President MAVIN Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law University of Iowa Nancy Leong, Associate Professor of Law University of Denver Mark Hugo Lopez, Director of Hispanic Research Pew Research Center…