Rainbows and Lilacs<\/a><\/p>\nC.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to get admitted to Harvard Law School on a scholarship available to African Americans and vis a vis a minority quota.\u00a0\u00a0In this comedy, which I consider dark and lacking humor, Howell\u2019s character oft times finds himself in a conundrum because he doesn\u2019t maintain the stereotypes of a Black male (i.e. physically endowed, great athlete\u2014basketball player), and must wriggle his way out of these situations by positing that he is an \u201cexception\u201d to the aforementioned stereotypes, which is supposed to be funny.\u00a0Twenty-nine years later, Rachel Dolezal seems to be the living embodiment of the 1986 cinematic exploitation movie \u201cSoul Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The thing about minstrelsy, or Blackface, is that it is a brand of antiquated humor, only funny to those of the lighter hue, that exaggerates the socially constructed stereotypes of the African-American that satirize human inferiorities, both intellectual and physical, that are definitely not solely attributed to those of African descent or the darker hue.\u00a0\u00a0It has even been lampooned and inverted in popular culture, particularly entertainment, by positing the Black exception as odd or unnatural in that he or she who is of African descent to be the polar opposite of the infantile, ignorant, shiftless, and overtly foolish imbecile that has been the standard for African American stereotypes since we set foot on the land that is now the United States of America.<\/p>\n
The problem I have with Rachel Dolezal is her manipulative use of the agency of \u201cpassing\u201d when it is profitable, convenient, and comfortable. \u00a0Identifying and experiencing American Blackness are fruits from a different bowl. \u00a0Her faux complaints of racial harassment and discrimination aside, I would like for her to be Black when it\u2019s condemned not when it\u2019s cool. Yes, she attended Washington D.C.\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Howard University (a prominent black college) and married and divorced a Black man, and had Black adopted siblings, and has served as the Alaska-Oregon chapter President of the NAACP, serves as an adjunct instructor in Africana Studies at one of Washington state\u2019s colleges, and wore braids and curls and got an orange tan, yet all of the aforementioned things do not make her Black.<\/p>\n
The Black American experience is much more nuanced than the music, soul food, civic organizations you have membership in, college courses you teach, or romantic relationships you choose. Braids or \u2018fros don\u2019t cut the mustard, folks.\u00a0\u00a0The conundrum lies in the alleged allegations that she has been a victim of racial discrimination and harassment because of her race or ethnicity which is a lie in and of itself.\u00a0\u00a0She is a white woman who has chosen to become aesthetically, and for all intents and purposes, Black.\u00a0\u00a0The media alleges that the threats she says she has endured and the letters she has received and the noose planted in her yard are all a hoax.\u00a0\u00a0And this is what\u2019s troubling.\u00a0\u00a0The Black American experience isn\u2019t a game.\u00a0\u00a0The Black lives that have been lost solely due to the stereotypes perpetuated that suggest the Black American is a menace to society and a harbinger of skullduggery and criminality are no joking matter and definitely not something that should be taken with a grain of salt.\u00a0 There is a huge difference\u00a0between wearing a costume & wearing a hue or attire that cannot come off or be discarded in a closet or found at a beauty shop or tanning salon.<\/p>\n
Gee Joyner is an instructor of English and African American Studies at the University of Memphis<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to get admitted to Harvard Law School on a scholarship available to African Americans and vis a vis a minority quota.\u00a0\u00a0In this comedy, which I consider dark and lacking humor, Howell\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[151,150,153,29,115,152],"class_list":["post-3618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blackness","tag-gee-joyner","tag-passing","tag-race","tag-rachel-dolezal","tag-whiteness"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-28T17:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-07T02:47:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/06\/R3SquareImage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"307\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"308\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html\",\"name\":\"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-28T17:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-07T02:47:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)","description":"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)","og_description":"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2015-06-28T17:05:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-07T02:47:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":307,"height":308,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/06\/R3SquareImage.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html","name":"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-28T17:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-07T02:47:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"First posted at Rainbows and Lilacs C.Thomas Howell once portrayed a college student, Mark Watson, who used tanning pills to\u00a0\u00a0appear Black in an effort to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/06\/a-social-death-by-misadventure-rachel-dolezal-and-the-manipulation-of-blackness-part-1.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Social Death By Misadventure: Rachel Dolezal and the Manipulation of Blackness (Part 1)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"who-am-i-blackboard\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/06\/who-am-i-blackboard.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n