Can a Person Choose Their Own Race? The Inevitable Hypocrisy of Relativism

Well, Rachel Dolezal is in the news again.

You might recall her story from a couple of years ago.  Dolezal was the civil rights activist and the former head of the NAACP in Spokane, WA.  But, there was one little problem.

She wasn’t black.

Although she presented herself as African American–a bit of a prerequisite for heading up a chapter of the NAACP–it turns out that she was not black after all.   Indeed she was a blonde, freckle-faced white girl born to two white parents.  She had merely changed her outward appearance.

Not surprisingly, objective facts regarding biology, genetics, and ethnicity were not a deterrent to Dolezal’s insistence that she …

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Can the Ethiopian Change His Skin or a Leopard His Spots? How Postmodernity Has Led to a Culture of Hypocrisy

There has been a lot of chatter the last few weeks about Rachel Dolezal, civil rights activist and the former head of the NAACP in Spokane, WA.  Although she presented herself as African American–a bit of a prerequisite for heading up a chapter of the NAACP–it turns out that she is not black after all.   Indeed she was a blonde, freckle-faced white girl born to two white parents.  She has merely changed her outward appearance.

Of course, objective facts regarding biology, genetics, and ethnicity have not proven to be a deterrent to Dolezal’s insistence that she is black.  “I identify as black,” she told Matt Lauer.  In other words, I …

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