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20 BOCNEWS.COMJULY 2015 So lets delve into the controversy surrounding Rachel Dolezal and the many questions it poses to clarify or not what is objective racial reality. Rachel Dolezal is the woman who recently resigned as the local Director of the Spokane Washington NAACP. According to a blitz of media reports Mrs. Dolezal claims that she is racially Black or African American and her parents who are White exposed her charade by clarifying that she is biologically White. Her par- ents claim that they have birth certificate records documenting that they are her biological parents and that she is ethnically Czech and German and there is no provable evidence of Black blood in her ancestry. Dolezal married an African-American man in 2000 and they divorced in 2005 she has one bi-racial son and one adopted African-American son in her imme- diate family. Dolezal has provided a number of televi- sion and print media interviews publicizing her claim that I am Black I identify with being Black I identify with being African-American The conflict that this issue poses is the whether people should have the right to self-identify whatever reality they deem individually appropriate politically expedient or financially beneficial If Dolezal can individually identify herself as Black even though she is objectively White the question becomes does reality matter anymore or is it up to the individual to determine what reality is for themselves Principally this is the same argument that has been debated about the homosexual community where people who are born objectively male or female are choosing to be something that physically they are not. The question here is whether we as individuals have the authority to determine for ourselves what reality is and whether that reality should be embraced as if it were true Scripturally when Adam and Eve decided to exer- cise their freedom and act independent of God in the Garden of Eden they also thought realities that didnt come from God. Thus But the Lord God called to the man Where are you 10He answered I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid. 11And He said Who told you that you were naked Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from Here Adam articu- lated a reality that did not come from God so He knew that they had exer- cised their freedom inappropriately and infringed upon Gods position of author- ity in the garden. Genesis 39-11 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil Genesis 35. Once we choose to take control of the authority that belongs to God and determine for ourselves what is true and false right and wrong good and evil then our self-destruction becomes unavoidable. Its clear we believe in our own ability to calculate right from wrong but the truth is weve only managed to secure our own ending. This error in thinking has occurred since our beginning and the inclination to abuse our freedom is the formula for our undoing. There is no solution that will repair unreality and our Pharaoh-like commitment to bad ideas will only continue to frustrate us and intensify our suffering. At some point reality has to be defined objectively. As a Psychotherapist it is my job to help people find reality when theyve wondered beyond the boundar- ies. I am in the business of bringing people back to sanity and sanity is an objective reality that enables us human beings to function as we should. I do not get to define what the objective standard of being is but it is my obligation to know and discover what God has determined it to be. Truth is knowable and we are all obligated to practice it as a standard being in the world. Race unlike gender is a trickier con- cept because it is a man-made idea or social construct. To quote my Pastor Brandon Washington We can objec- tively prove gender just because some- one wants to be something that desire does not make them what they want to be. Gender with very few aberrations is objectively knowable. Race not so much Two Germans named Johann Blumenbach and H.S. Chamberlin creat- ed the concept of racial categories in the 16th century where they developed 5 categories Ethiopian Black Caucasian White Malayan Brown Asian Yellow and Indian Red. These categories have gross errors not the least of which is the fact that Anthropologists estimate there are over 12000 dif- ferent people groups on the planet. To reduce that number down to five is at best bad scholarship and at worst intentional deception. Whats more America is in an extremely small minority of countries who even take the idea of race seriously. Many countries dont even have language that would remotely equate to the word race in American English. I get it Black people do not like the above argu- ment because they believe that it undermines the subjective reality of race and invalidates the meaningfulness of our shared humanity. Not so. Black or African-American culture and ethnicity is a valid reality that can be quantified proven and vali- dated for the expressed purpose of shared human experiences arts language food dress collective consciousness spiritual biorhythms biological pat- terns etc. While race cannot be identified as a scientific reality it is a socio-political reality and especially in America. Dolezal and any other White person who wants to join that struggle are welcome However no matter how much Dolezal and Eminem identify with Black heritage that doesnt make them members or decedents of that heritage. It is possible however for one to be White and identify themselves as culturally Black. I have a good friend who is the same way with one exception- he likes NASCAR But if the shoe were reversed its a little harder to be Black and identify as culturally Jewish and then ask for holocaust reparations As far as it relates to Dolezal identifying herself as a Black person is an error that should have been resolved years ago unless of course she couldnt help but continue to enjoy those benefits. In 2002 Dolezal filed a lawsuit against Howard University alleging that the HBCU discriminated against her because she was White. Like a chameleon she changed to biological Whiteness when it benefitted her financially but when she sought admission to the school she was Black. What person who iden- tifies with the Black struggle would sue Howard University which is the Harvard of HBCUs claim- ing that it discriminates against white people Is this the evidence of her commitment to the Black community that shes been referring too I have a suggestion for her embrace your Whiteness After all she does have a son who is half White join a White organization and lead White people out of the vicious racism thats been displayed in the behavior of some Law Enforcement and Corrections authority and the vile mass murdering. White folks need some leadership too Heres the therapist in me your identity is not in your hair style the food you eat or the clothes you wear because all of that external matter can change. Your skin color is not your identity either because there are jet black parents who have blonde hair blue eyed and white skinned offspring. These folks are called albinos and thats only possible because all of humanity came from a Black woman named Lucy in Tanzania circa 3 million years ago but I digress. Our identity is defined by our highest poten- tial and that potential functions via consciousness and will which is our true identity. In other words were making a mistake by defining ourselves by that which limits us versus that which reflects our unlim- ited reality. Who told you that you were a race gay N-word B-word etc .. So Many Questions CURRENT AFFAIRS By Randy Craven LPC CAC III Randy Craven