Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP operative who donned blackface and put on an ostensibly racist minstrel show to fool the world into thinking she was African-American, has been chosen to speak at a Martin Luther King Day Dreamfest celebration in North Carolina.
This year’s theme will be “Healing Race Relations through Conversation and Participation.” What better way to heal “race relations” than invite the one woman whose only foray into the national spotlight revolved around her decision to make a mockery of racial identity?
Event organizers don’t see it that way. In fact, they’ve actually adopted Dolezal’s talking points, lending credence to the argument that melanin is something that can be worn and taken off like an article of clothing.
“Dolezal has acknowledged that she is ‘Caucasian biologically,'” said event organizer Al Cohen. She was “depicted as a major villain through media because of her preference of racial identity.”
Cohen insisted that Dolezal had technically committed no crime. “She only had an affinity for a group of people, and she served her community well,” he added.
Despite widespread scrutiny from across the political spectrum, Dolezal says she still “identifies” as black.
Not only is Dolezal refusing to back down from pretending that she’s black, but she’s now exploiting the entire controversy for financial gain. She plans on publishing a book on racial identity in the imminent future.
Spray tan lives matter… And a bad wig helps, too. pic.twitter.com/9KHYSfRVJX
— NillaLatte (@nillalatte) June 13, 2015