海角大神

Whether Rachel Dolezal has even a trace of a genetic claim to her black identity, no amount of DNA can furnish a claim to an experience someone has not actually had.

The distinction between race and ethnicity, between genealogy and lived identity, was thrown into sharp relief Friday when it emerged that the parents of Ms. Dolezal, the聽president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, accused her of聽falsely portraying herself as black.

Dolezal, who has聽four adopted black siblings, resigned from her post.

Her alleged misrepresentation occurs at a time when racial tensions are at a high because of conflicts between law enforcement and the black community, pushing issues of racial identity versus ethnicity into explosive conflict.

Asked by media if she is black,聽, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of complexities 鈥� and I don鈥檛 know that everyone would understand that. We鈥檙e all from the African continent.鈥� Most scientists believe that Homo sapiens first evolved in eastern Africa.

Dolezal鈥檚 comment echoes the 鈥溾�� which comes from the Racial Integrity Laws and the Racial Integrity Act (RIA) of 1924, where those who had 鈥渙ne drop鈥� of blood from a non-white race was forced to self-identify as that race and not white. It is not clear, however, if Dolezal can identify any black ancestors in her family tree.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important for people to think about the processes that shape racial identities, both when people self-identify racially and when racially identities are imposed upon them by which people self-identify race,鈥� says聽David Freund,聽Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Maryland and the author of ."

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 also good for people to empathize with other races, ethnicities and genders," he adds. "The biological stuff is kind of a red herring. It implies that there is a measurable, biological basis for making racial distinctions, but there is not."

Race and ethnicity, Prof. Freund says, are comparable in many ways: both are inventions, but they also have very different histories.

Dolezeal鈥檚 apparent deception may be magnified by current racial tensions in the US, says sociologist聽Dalton Conley, University Professor at New York University.

鈥淏ecause of the symbolic claims that claiming black identity invoke I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 the same as saying you鈥檙e Irish-American when you鈥檙e not,鈥� Professor Conley says. 鈥淥r even Elizabeth Warren and her '. I鈥檓 surprised that didn鈥檛 end up tanking her political career. Crossing the line and claiming the legacy of Black Americans when you haven鈥檛 experienced that, I think, is something that is just not socially acceptable in our country.鈥�

Conley adds, 鈥淚 think that there are so many interesting, swirling forces going on about race in our culture right now that make us upset about this case. There is, for the first time, all this DNA聽聽that challenges both our personal notions of who we thought we were and also challenges our social construction and narrative of what race is.鈥�

鈥淚n the midst of all this we have the increasing salience of race, particularly blackness, in our debate about policing,鈥� Conley says. 鈥淩ight now the debate is about the criminal justice system but it could extend to other domains of life where we have a long history of unequal treatment, segregation in housing, schools and so forth. So we see the category of race is even 50 years after civil rights, as salient as ever, which is also being complicated by bureaucratic changes like the census and by DNA evidence that鈥檚 new.鈥�

Conley adds, 鈥淲hile race is a social construction, it is at least informed by ancestry and we can see that in DNA analysis for the first time in history.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 open for debate, but it would be interesting [if Dolezal were to take a DNA test] and showed some markers of ancestral African descent,鈥� Conley concludes. 鈥淭hen that鈥檚 just showing how complicated race is. Maybe, her parents, nobody would be aware of that African-American descent and she grew up culturally with white privilege, thinking she was of European descent, it gets more complicated. I鈥檓 not sure it would rescue her.鈥�