Editorial: Rachel Dolezal and White Privilege

Abstract

In June 2015, the Internet lit ablaze amidst reports that Rachel Dolezal, then president of the local chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Spokane, Washington lied about her identity and racial background. To compound matters, Dolezal had been masquerading as a black woman for over a decade, an identity and persona she constructed for personal benefits and social advantages. As the president of the NAACP local chapter, she was earning a six-figure salary, while falsely living as a black woman. Professionally, and at a personal level, Dolezal erased black women, their experiences, voices, and opinions in taking on their racial identity, and displacing them from the center.