Rachel Dolezal became infamous in April of 2015, when she was exposed by her family as a fraud. Rachel, born a very white, green-eyed blonde of Czech ancestry, decided at some point that she wanted to be a black woman. In order to be accepted into her chosen ethnic group, she had to camouflage her true ancestry. Rachel dyed and permed her straight blonde hair and darkened her skin. Presto Chango, she’s a black woman. Rachel lived successfully as a black woman for many years. It is interesting to note that her legitimately black peers accepted her for who she was as a person because of her superficial appearance. When she was exposed as a white woman, she was ostracized.
Pocahontas Warren (aka Elizabeth) was infamously exposed in 2012 during the presidential primaries for having listed herself as a minority during college and as a Harvard Law School professor. Her claims of Native American descent led then Presidential candidate Donald Trump, to dub her ‘Pocahontas.’ Eventually, a DNA test showed very minimal Native DNA in her ancestry, certainly not enough to claim ‘minority’ status. It is interesting to note that when being listed as a minority was no longer beneficial, Senator Warren stopped checking that box.
More recently, Will Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania student who had been competing on the men’s swim team, decided he identified as a woman, changed his name to Lia, and joined the women’s team. Will (aka Lia), an undistinguished swimmer on the male team, immediately dominated the woman’s swim team, winning races and breaking records. As the saying goes, ‘you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.’ In that sense, you can change a guy’s name to Lia and squeeze him into a bikini, but he is still a guy. Will (aka Lia) has now started identifying as a black male, Jackie Robinson. White male becomes white female becomes black male. What next? The real issue here is not who or what Will identifies as, but the fairness of a man competing on a woman’s sports team.
In 1963, Martin Luther King Junior, in his famous I have a dream speech, said:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
I have a dream that we take that one step further. I have a dream that we do away with race, ethnicity, and gender in every aspect of life and judge people by the content of their character and their abilities. For instance, there would be no men’s or women’s swim team. There would be three team competition levels: hot shots, hot enough, and looks hot in a swimsuit, but make sure there’s a lifeguard on duty. Everyone gets to compete against athletes of the same skill level.
This approach also eliminates issues of cheating and misrepresentation. None of us will ever know if Rachel, Elizabeth, or Will used their chosen identities as a means of self-promotion or legitimately believed in those identities.
As the lines between social categories become increasingly blurred, it is time to eliminate them completely. Maybe then politicians can focus on legitimate issues.
