Reality Czech

Rachel Dolezal has been in the news recently.  She is the NAACP head in Spokane Washington who was outed by her family for being Caucasian rather than African-American as she proclaimed.  The story was of particular interest to me because my mother’s maiden name is Dolezal and our ancestors share the same Czechoslovakian heritage.  I suppose there is a good chance Rachel and I are related.  As one of my Dolezal cousins quipped, “Every family has a black sheep somewhere.”

Her story comes on the heels of Bruce Jenner appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair as a woman.  His attempt to change genders made all the papers and newscasts.  Political correctness meant that all reports should now refer to Jenner with feminine pronouns, and they did.  The mainstream media however did not seem ready to refer to Rachel Dolezal as black.  What is the difference I wondered?

Both of them made similar statements.  Jenner thought of himself as a woman.  Dolezal thought of herself as African-American.  If Jenner could be accepted as something he really isn’t, why can’t Dolezal be similarly accepted as black?  Maybe Jenner had his body surgically altered.  What if Dolezal did the same, a black skin graft perhaps? 

I sensed that progressive liberals were not sure how to react to the Dolezal revelation initially.   Seeing a parallel to the Jenner story, articles began to appear supporting Dolezal’s right to be any race she wanted to be.  An article appearing on CNN by CamilleGear Rich, professor of law and sociology at USC Gould School of Law, says Dolezal “forces us to consider whether our biology or our action is more important to identity, and should we act in ways that honor our chosen identity in meaningful ways.”  Continuing, she says, “We should not have to be slaves to the biological definition of identity, and we should not use race or gender identities as weapons to punish one another.”

Secular relativism continues to overtake our society.  Facts no longer matter.  Reality seems to be whatever anyone wants it to be.  If I feel like a woman, I am a woman.  If I feel like I'm black, I'm black.  If I feel like a Martian, I'm a Martian.  The fact is, chromosomes determine the sex of a person.  Feelings or surgery cannot change the chromosomes.  Feelings cannot change our ethnicity or cosmic origin.   

Are we doing a disservice to people with these mental challenges if we acquiesce to their delusional feelings?  Assuming Bruce Jenner was born with X and Y chromosomes, are we compounding his confusion by calling him Caitlyn and referring to him as "she"?  Would not the humane action be to help him get back to reality through proper treatment?  Having an African-American preside over a chapter of the NAACP is probably desirable, but Rachel, you are not African-American.  You do not have a black father.  Why do you not accept who you really are?

When we were young, our parents told us we could grow up to be anything we wanted to be.  I don't think this is what they had in mind.