You’ve probably heard about the latest story of someone claiming to be who she’s not. Last week, Rachel Dolezal – Spokane NAACP chapter president – was discovered not to be biracial black as she had claimed for years, but 100 percent white.
In light of recent events, the comparison between Dolezal and Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner was inevitable. Indeed, well before the Dolezal scandal came to light, one particular paragraph in the widely read New York Times opinion piece “What Makes a Woman? [1]” by feminist Elinor Burkett had caught my eye.
The ‘I was born in the wrong body’ rhetoric favored by other trans people doesn’t work … and is … offensive, reducing us [women] to our collective breasts and vaginas. Imagine the reaction if a young white man suddenly declared that he was trapped in the wrong body and, after using chemicals to change his skin pigmentation and crocheting his hair into twists, expected to be embraced by the black community.”
And then, Rachel Dolezal happened. And it was laughably pertinent.
The reaction by the mainstream media, social media and general public opinion has been mixed. Yet, Whoopi Goldberg supported Jenner, Dolezal and the integrity of liberal logic when she stated on June 15’s episode of The View [2], “Look, just like people say ‘I feel like I’m a man, I feel like I’m a woman, I feel like I’m this—I feel,’ she feels like a black woman. She wants to be a black woman, fine.” The star continued, “Everything that comes with that, she is prepared for. Okay.”
Today, Goldberg continued to discuss the story on The View: “This girl feels that she believes she’s black … and you know, I have to believe she feels the way she feels, just like Caitlyn Jenner feels like she’s a woman … I don't feel she's doing anything that anyone else hasn't done. If someone feels they're this they have every right to pursue it.”
“I just thought if she felt like she was really a black person, she should have stated that from the get-go and the NAACP would have welcomed her anyway,” argued The View co-host Rosie Perez.
“She believes, she believes she’s black,” Raven Symone chimed in. “It’s the same thing dealing with transgender. She said she's felt black since she was 5 years old.”
If they accept Caitlyn, they have to accept Rachel too. What a beautiful moment of true liberal acceptance!