We, The Nigerians, Do Not Accept Rachel Dolezal’s New Name
This is the 4th time I am writing about Rachel Dolezal the Undercover Sista on this site. And each time, I want to track her down and slap her in the face with a stack of paper printed with my words in 50 point font.
Rachel Dolezal is the person who asks if she can be a part of your group project, and you tell her that the teacher already assigned the groups and she wasn’t assigned to yours. And then she shows up to your project meetings and you’re like “Rachel, you aren’t in this group.” And then the day of presentations, she stands up in front of the class with your group, acting like she did the work with you. Meanwhile, everyone, including the teacher, and members of her own group who haven’t seen her at all look at each other wordlessly saying “WTF?” with their eyes.
This woman (who also led Spokane’s NAACP chapter) claims to be Black WHEN BOTH HER PARENTS ARE WHITE AF. Ma and Pa Dolezal are all “But Rachel. We are white. You are too. We were there when you were born” and Rachel’s all “nah. I’m Black. You see my cornrows and my big hair?” I really appreciate her parents for believing in the “Yes Snitching” movement. Too bad their daughter’s a nutbucket.
Rachel the Appropriation Aristocrat then had a son and named him Langston Attickus, which has to go down as one of the Blackest names in history. That name is so Black that it comes with a Jazz band. As in, the boy probably sang the Blues before he could walk. Now, because she excels at doing the absolute most with the utter least, she has renamed herself. Rachel “I Wanna Be Down Like Brandy” Dolezal got her name legally changed to Nkechi Amare Diallo.
NKECHI. AMARE. DIALLO. Bhet why. A name that is so properly West African that I’m hoping jollof rice appears in front of me at the mention of it. Well, “Amare” might be Latin, but she knows she picked it because it sounds positively onyx. She didn’t want to just be Black: she wanted to be African. Before we know it, she’s gonna want to be Eve herself.
This woman is so thirsty to be a part of the diaspora that not only did she change her white ass name, but she gave herself names from at least 2 different countries on the continent. “Nkechi” is from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria and it means “gift of God”, and Diallo is Fulani and can be traced to both Guinea and Senegal. It means “bold.” This is certainly a bold move, if bold is synonymous with desperate. Bold must mean delusional. This is not what IGBO KWENU is made of.
I would like to take this time to speak on behalf of Nigerians everywhere to say we do not claim, nor one-third claim Rachel Dolezal and her new name. We reject her attempt to attach herself to our glory, through that first name. And we bind it by holy ghost fire that this classless wonder of a being will not prosper at sullying our country name. It is not my portion to know this woman as my country kin, as she is an enemy of progress. WE DO NOT CLAIM HER, O.
As if we don’t have enough to worry about, with our deflating currency and our petrol issues. Plus our president who seems to have taken residency in England. Now you want us to add this bombastic ijot to our pile. *mtchew*
This Rachel girl, sha. And let me catch someone actually calling this nonentity Nkechi. LEMME CATCH YOU calling this woman anything but the Darth Becky (shoutout to Damon from VSB)that she is. “Her mama named her Rachel. I’ma call her Rachel.” Which kin’ Nkechi? TMZ is now referring to her as Nkechi and I wanna show up to their offices and unplug all their desktops AND their wifi routers. This woman is a troll of the highest form. Olodo rada rada. Oponu.
The Council of Onyx People Everywhere (COPE) gotta hire more security guards and tighten our measures for BLAXIT. Something tells me this child is gon try to sneak unto the island. We’ve rejected her visa at least 5 times but she keeps trying. We’re expecting a new application from an Nkechi, and we’ve sent out an emergency memo for our BLAXIT embassy staff to stay vigilant.
Wonders shall never cease. This woman could just be a really cool white ally dedicated to amplifying her appreciation of Black culture. And fighting for racial equality. Instead, she’s single white femaled us as a single white woman who wants to be a Black woman so bad. She’s such a bird, with her culture vulture ass.
NO KANK YOU.
Rachel has a book coming out later this month. I’d rather read the dead sea scrolls.
Have you bought my debut book I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual. Haven’t ordered it yet? Now’s your chance. You’ll love it. Amazon. Barnes & Nobles. iBooks. Audible (I narrated the audiobook myself). Kobo. Books-A-Million.
Get these blogposts directly in your inbox! Sign up for my weekly LuvvLetter below:
It is time to write that book. Come into The Book Academy and learn how to go from IDEA to INK.
Related Posts
133 Comments
This woman makes Get Out look like a documentary. UGH!! She irks!
LMAO! Accurate!
I am sorry, but this woman is patently not a troll. In fact, she is a sad person who is so disgusted with the life she was given when she was born that she desperately tries to latch onto someone else’s identity to give herself validation. A troll does what they do to piss people off. This lady does it because she needs attention whether it is good or bad. The more you talk about her, the more attention she gets, and the more validated she feels as a black woman. So it is easy to see why you are pissed, but each statement about her just makes her resolve more concrete.
I agree with Mathias. Her behavior is weirdly appropriate and probably causes most African-Americans either discomfort or at least some perplexity, but she seems to be doing it in order to run away from some kind of deep pain arising from her white-bread fundie childhood. But I’m not sure that ignoring her will make all that much difference. I think escape from toxic crackerhood is a bigger motivation than attention-seeking.
Appropriative. Not appropriate.
Next thing you know she’ll be claiming she was born in Africa and her ancestors were slaves. If Rachel don’t go somewhere and contemplate her life choices.
Uhhh she’s already claimed her ancestors are African slaves and she visited Africa as a child.
Okay before I tell all 70ish lies she told imagine Steve Martin in the movie “The Jerk… ‘I was born a poor black child’
1) she grew up living in teepees (lie her parents had????)
2) her birth certificate has Jesus under as witness (lie her parents proved her BC had both parents and was born in a nice hospital. Her mother was a stay at home mother.
3) she was uncomfortable when “white girls” would touch her black hair. BTW she hated white girls because the white girl didn’t understand her trials growing up black.
4) when her parents busted her she then claimed her brother was a raper. The courts dropped the case against her brother because Rachel’s story fell through
5) She’s claimed death threats came by mail but forgot to stamp so it could be post marked. She had a po box so it’s impossible for someone to give a letter without mailing and stamping a letter. The police said most of her reporters did not make sense.
6) She told stories of making her own dolls (toys) and she would make braids for the doll. She colored herself with brown crayons. Her parents said that NEVER happened.
7) Her parents are supposed to be great people that adopted black children. Rachel told everyone she was beat with items that was used on slaves. Her adopted and bio siblings said never happened.
8) She claimed a white supremacist broke into her house and scared her son because she was an activist. Her son told the police it was an elderly couple that was lost and he let them in..they were nice and he wasn’t afraid at all.
9) she said her REAL dad was her stepdad
I could go on but u get my point.
WHO IS SEWING IN HER HAIR FOR HER?! WHO ARE THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE NAACP THAT SHE WORKS FOR?! What kind of people live in Spokane?! How has this woman got this far without one solitary soul in her life not telling her staaap and evaluate her choices. Major Side eye, Spokane.
I just need to point out that she is the EX-head of the NAACP and can’t get a job here. Carry on.
And you need to turn off your caps lock and catch up on your reading from the past two years. Major Side eye, Sarah.
I lost all breathe at Darth Becky!!!!!!!!! We just not gone let her no where near the island. Keep her photos at every entry point so no matter what this delusional woman changes her name to we know what she looks like.
I say we need to do retinal scans at the Blaxit gates. Knowing her she’ll change her skin tone and get a new hairstyle and slip right through. We can’t have that. Trust me, Retinal. Scans.
I AM IN PUBLIC. #crine
I know that they say imitation is the best form of flattery, however, somebody need to get this woman. That spray tan or whatever she’s putting on her hair to dry it out has seeped into her bloodstream and made her delusional.
If it’s redemption she’s after, she should go do Halle’s hair. She can’t get s Blaxit pass, but maybe I won’t trip her in the street.
“If it’s redemption she’s after, she should go do Halle’s hair….”
*Clutches pearls then passes TF out.
I am dead, send people for my body.
U have slayed me ????????????????????????????????
This comment. How do I go on after this?????
The hi-yella contingent VOTE HELL NAW! We have ENOUGH of our own issues and simply cannot take on Mystery Melanin right now. She may reapply when she is 70 and we see if she cracks…you see, I am damn near 60 and my Black don’t crack so….
Yes Saundra! I concur, the high yell contingent sides with our Naija sisteren, he’ll no she can’t go.
*Flatlines at Mystery Melanin* iCannot!
Mystery Melanin!!! Love it! Gotta use that one. ☺. She should be the poster child for mental health awareness month.
I can’t with this woman, 2016 tried my soul and 2917 is testing my patience and ability to stay cool. I’m trying really hard not to let hate fill my heart with all the political schenanigans going on. But in the name of Jesus I refuse to let this woman and her “I shouldn’t but I will” behind, make me sin my soul. She’s using our culture, our history as a prop to get herself recognised without having to live with the ramifications of slavery, bigotry, hate and apathy, is just insulting to the highest degree.
I’m not Nigerian, but as Bajan I’ve experienced all that comes with being black, and being a black woman. This imposter has no idea what it’s like to be snubbed for just existing. As they say she wants to be n***r without having the history of being one.
The Caucasity of it all.
????????????????
________________________________*flatlined* ????????????????????????
“Caucasity!”
I’m borrowing this term I swear to God Almighty XD
I know black women are awesome. We really are. And imitation? Flattery. But this, this is like Cockeyed Billy always showing up to play tag on the playground with a helmet that keeps turning sideways so he REALLY can’t see right. Where’s her aide that’s supposed to be keeping track of her?
Ion’t know you, but I quitchu. Got my cat looking at me like I done every bit of my natural mind cackling!
“with a helmet that keeps turning sideways..”! !!!!!! I just can’t! ????
As an Nkechi, I REBUKE her using my name. Hell to the naw! Chai! See me see trouble!
bwaaaaaaahaaaaaaaa…. Nkechi i hear that “chai!” in my spirit! As a Jamerican that moved to Naija I’m now saying “chai” instead of “cha”.
LOLOL!!!! @ *mtchew*
I don’t know if I laughed harder at Luvvie figuring out how to spell what I do all the time, or the fact that I figured it out in .75 seconds. #2thru
I have no idea how that’s supposed to be pronounced, but I’m sure having fun trying. MTCHEW!
Sound of sucking teeth (hard, African style)
Is it me, or is there some form of teef suckin’ throughout the diaspora? Black Americans just do the short “TCH.”
I can tell you what kind of people live in Spokane and allow this nonsense to continue. My step-brother and his wife are faith healers there and I have personally seen him LAY HANDS on some dude in Mexico and ask Jesus to heal a gash on his leg. I slipped the guy $5 and told him to go to CVS around the corner – my brother’s Jesus is white and probably doesn’t have time to heal brown street people. My step-SIL told my mother that she can now cure cancer with her prayers and the next step is to start working with a pastor she wants to follow who has learned to *raise the dead* (you heard me) and “really knows what it’s like to walk in the footsteps of Christ.” She wants to join one of his dead-raising TEAMS. Said pastor is 33 so maybe my SIL should follow a little faster…
What I’m saying is, Spokane is so full of crazy-pants people that this nutbar might not even register.
Not everyone in Spokane is crazy – RACHEL got fired from her NAACP job at least a year ago when the truth came out, and Spokane wants nothing to do with her. This week’s local news said she’s unemployed and soon to be homeless. We have no idea how she’s been getting away with this, other than Spokane is VERY white so maybe we missed the signs.
I teach cultural anthropology and try to get a bunch of college kids to understand cultural appropriation. This post is now officially Required Reading.
I get where this could seem like cultural appropriation, except, those who do it don’t then claim to BE Black. They act as though Black/cultural minorities never invented anything they would use and would never give credit to them even when they “learn” the truth. They also will imply their version is good, better, best and any other or true version is bad, worse or ghetto.
Dis muthaphukka is a habitual line steppa! I’m waiting on MC Nkechi, Cash me Ousside and Iggy to form a supa group “Darth Beckys” That would be lit! They could battle Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Adele for grammys for best urban/contemporary/RandB/Rap group. And the winner is… Remy Ma and the Terror Squad! “I told y’all bitches don’t ever play wit me. WILL. NOT. LOSE.”
I’m still trying to outrage against this woman. Hell, I’m genuinely perplexed by all the hatred directed at her. I don’t understand how race became more sacred than sex or sexuality. If we as society are affording people the generosity to identify as whomever they choose gender wise, why not race? Is Melanin stronger than Chromosome? One is only skin deep, and other goes wayyyy deeper than that. Being black is more than just skin color, or where you’re born. Heck in this multicultural universe you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) judge someone by their exterior. The same way you can have black Americans/Europeans is the same way White Africans exists all over the world (I understand she’s neither but still). Also, the level of melanin in someone’s skin changes naturally just by being outdoors or indoors…it’s only skin deep yall! So my question is when/how did something so easily changed or manipulate (think skin bleaching) become more sacred and important than sex. And for those that want to argue that it’s more than skin deep, we all have friends or know someone that acts/understands/identifies with a race outside of their natural own, and it’s perfectly normal. Heck some of them claim it or we claim it for them (e.g. Eminem). You cant say sexual liberty is a thing, and racial liberty isn’t, it simply doesn’t flow logically. Biko since when did a man made thing (race, we all have the same ancestors) become greater than a God made thing (gender)? Abeg we need to free her jor. Live and let live.
Because Onyi, she didn’t grow up with the same social struggles that she would have had she grown up black. But she wants to identify as and capitalize off being black now without having had to deal with those struggles. That’s appropriation. She may identify that way, and who knows maybe others claim it for her, but the difference between Eminem and Dolezal, as far as I know at least, is that Eminem doesn’t tell people he’s black. Because he’s white. Even though he may be accepted by the community, he still knows he is and claims to be white, instead of charading around as if he’s black and capitalizing on it monetarily . . . like Dolezal did. That’s the difference.
The same argument can be applied to sex. Perfect example is Jenner he didn’t grow up with any of the struggles that women did. He didn’t have to deal with the misery of cramps, sexism in his field, getting pregnant or child birth. He enjoyed EVERY SINGLE ONE of the privileges of a man, and even now as a women he doesn’t have the bear the hardship of going through menopause, AND is most definitely capitalizing off being a woman. BUT all of that is acceptable because we as a society decided give people freedom to be who they choose. All I’m saying is can we just be honest with ourselves and own the hypocrisy of it all?!
P.S. Eminem has definitely profited off being perceived/accepted (while not claiming it) as black. Whatever struggles we as black women face this woman CHOSE as adult (for whatever misguided reason) to walk down that path, and that’s something that can definitely be shared/experienced, whereas people like Jenner while identifying with a different gender cannot truly experience the same struggle(not to belittle their own personal struggle)
Who said that is acceptable? Everyone didn’t.
Onyi you’re making sense o
Didn’t grow up with the social struggles of being black. I grew up in the suburbs and never felt like was more a struggle for me than anyone else. Does that mean I’m not black. Let this woman be. Jeez. If we can name our kids Oliver and Jasmine, she can name herself Nkechi. Jeez.
The fact that you grew up in the suburbs and didn’t feel like it was more of a struggle than it would be for anyone else is irrelevant. For one thing, you don’t know what type of passive discrimination you may have experienced. (For example, did a paper you wrote get a lower grade than it would have gotten if it had been written by a white student? You’ll never know. Discrimination these days is mostly passive.) Additionally, you having not experienced social struggles in the suburbs does not make you exempt from them in the wider society. Rachel, however, is exempt from them. She is aware of her whiteness (which runs contrary to the idea that she truly “feels” black) and actually steps back into her white persona when it benefits her (such as when she sued HBCUs for discrimination against her as a white woman).
WUT?
The moment when I can wake up in all my chocolate wonder and decide today I’m going to be white, be treated like a white woman, protected like a white woman and deified like a white woman by any and everyone this forever tripping, forever stumbling, forever doing too damn much, forever stealing experiences and stories that are not hers, forever figuring out how to take her foolishness to even more peak levels, forever embarrassing not only herself but her family and the universe, forever forgetting that she SUED THE HBCU she attended for discrimination against her as a WHITE WOMAN when she was just a lackluster performing human can be as steeped in the melanin as she wants to be. Until then she can have a whole stadium of seats in the doing entirely too damn much stadium before she runs up on the wrong person that grants her wish and treats her like she’s black.
If that’s the future you want it starts by accepting this lady’s choice to be black. It all starts somewhere…soon you’ll be able to sue someone for calling you black instead of white, because that’s what you identify with. You’ll have the freedom of choosing whatever race you want in a job interview form because that’s the future we would have created. Not necessarily an appealing future, but definitely a possibility…and give science a chance for a small fortune you can wake up as Becky with blonde hair with whatever eye color you please instead of Brandy with the afro. You can physically transform into whatever you want, and deceive you ever you want, which is something that’s common place today. The real question here is one of self deception or self-belief, and the rights that society grants based on those beliefs.
Onyi no amount of surgery would allow me to be white. I’d die from the skin bleaching alone. My point is this race is not a choice for the vast majority of us. We don’t get to wake up and say I’m no longer whatever. This doesn’t compare to sexuality because on some level you can if you choose not have that information known about you. Being able to marry and be out is cool but by no means is it the same as being judged, demeaned, attacked and potentially killed because you just happen to have dark skin. I cannot accept this cause this is FOOLISHNESS. She can self identify however she likes but I do not have to ride with it, abide by it or do anything other than check the gall and privilege it takes to coopt someone else’s struggle and pain all so you can play a role. She was white when it was convenient for her. She’s “black” in her mind now. If mess hit the fan and it was really an us versus them scenario nothing in my body says she wouldn’t be blonde and pale 5 minutes after she got wind of trouble. Not to mention she can’t accept that she hurt anyone by her messy and convoluted plan. Nah she can cement blocks with bare feet.
Wish I could love your comment a 1000 times. People say she didn’t go through black struggles. But we have men who never went through menstrual cramps and puberty who decide to be women. Do we deride them with multiple blog posts or we tolerate and try and understand the psychology behind it?
Instead of all these hate posts, have we tried to listen to Rachael and understand her POv?
Here’s the difference between race and gender identity. Gender identity is innate and rooted wholly in biology; racial/ethnic identity is not. Race, while it has basis in genetics/biology, is largely a social construct. We are not born with an identity associated with being of a certain race or ethnic group. That’s called “culture”. Culture is a social construct that is is transmitted to us purely by society. Therefore, you cannot be born “feeling” black or African, as transgendered people are born feeling that they are of the opposite gender. The brains of transgendered people are innately of a different gender than their bodies. Oppositely, while you can *want* to be black, the only way to be innately black is to have Sub-Saharan African DNA.
So, there’s nothing to understand here. Rachel is simply a white woman who deeply wants to be black and therefore chooses to identify as such. I will never hate on someone for how they choose to identify, but I will never accept someone as black who has no Sub-Saharan African heritage. I will also always cast a strong side-eye on anyone who wears, like a costume, a race that they have no absolutely no genetic connection to. That latter behavior is the source of most of the negative feelings about Rachel, She has claimed her whiteness when it benefited her, as if she’s choosing the best shoes to wear to an interview. A black person cannot truly step in and out of being black, as Rachel has. Our race will always affect some aspect of our existence in America. Rachel is exempt from this and she knows it, which is why she has tried to use being white to her benefit against HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities).
As a result of slavery, I am technically almost 30% European. I have a more legitimate claim to being white than Rachel does to being black. Even if I wanted to, could I become an accepted member of the white community and claim being white so that I could reap all of the societal and monetary benefits of being white? No. Hell naw. Never. No way in in hell. No one who isn’t 100% European (or who at least appears 100% European) will ever be tolerated as a white person by white society. In the black community in America, on the other hand, we’ve always largely accepted as black people of varying amounts of admixture. There would be very few people considered “black” in America if we didn’t. But why are we supposed to be understanding of this when Rachel’s own community would never be understanding/accepting of the opposite scenario – or even of black people with actual European ancestry? In fact, when black people used to “pass for white” during slavery/Jim Crow for survival, they had to worry about being harmed if their true heritage was revealed.
I like how it’s always ‘we have men who’ and never ‘we have women who decide to be men’. People always forget transmen exist, too, and that their experience is just as important.
And for the record, it’s not a decision, it’s a quirk of brain structure, and psychology to accept said quirk. One of my best friends transitioned to male about ten years ago, and let me tell you, the positive changes I have SEEN in this boy. He is a happier person. He is a kinder person. He is a better man than he /ever/ was when he was pretending to be a woman. He’s not angry anymore. So yeah. Try to understand the psychology of trans people, and even Rachel.
But don’t go confusing the psychology of trans people with the psychology of this lady. She’s got issues, and they’ve got nothing to do with the structure of her brain literally telling her she’s in the wrong body. She’s either an opportunistic liar who realized she could get ahead by claiming the identity of another people, or she’s delusional and needs real help.
I feel the exact same way.
Onyi…..I agree with you..Let me add my two cents..When we have a whole bunch of Black Africans bleaching their skin, abandoning tradional head ties for fake weave shit and Miss Piggy’s eyelashes….Whennwe have our men choosing these fake bimbos over our natural ebony women…. When Nigeris can’t clean up it’s own shit and get respect in Africa, much less the rest of the world, I think we need to shut the hell up, and leave this woman alone..
Miss Piggy’s lashes!!!!! ????????????
…bimbos?
While sex/gender has certain characteristics that can translate across different cultures, CULTURES do not have attributes that can translate across DIFFERENT RACES.
Gender identity isn’t the same argument, not the same thing, NOPE, NADA, NYET!
THANK YOU. Further, sex and gender are determined at least in part by brain structures, and multiple studies have shown that trans people’s brains are closer to those of the gender they identify with than that they were assigned at birth. (A transman’s brain structure is closer to a man’s than a woman’s for example)
My best friend is a transman and he is happy, healthy, loving and a good man. He’s in a loving relationship with another man, and they are the sweetest couple I’ve ever met in my life. His boyfriend gets so much crap for ‘giving up being gay’, but his boyfriend sees him 100% as a man and loves him regardless.
I was wondering where you were.
Yeah so this?
“…it’s only skin deep yall!”
Is where you got it twisted. You don’t get it because you clearly think like her. The experience and culture of being Black goes so beyond skin tone and hair texture that to reduce it to only what is visually identifiable is reductive and highly condescending.
I’d go on, but there is nothing I can add that this article hasn’t already outlined with crystal clarity. If you don’t know me by now…
Now she dun took white privilege to a whole other level! SMH
(thunderous applause) This is the best thing I have read all year.
I rebuke her name for you!!
Since she just had to change her name, she should have changed it to something more fitting of her, like “Foot”.
Foot Dolezal has a good ring to it.
FOOT! LOLOLOL
Ok, I am supposed to be white, although I have African American ancestors, as well as Native American ancestors. I was raised Catholic, but my grandfather was a Ukrainian Jew. I do get asked if I’m part Native American a lot. When I fill out a form and they ask me about my race I put other, and write in human. I’m not defending what she did in any way shape or form, but it seems to me that she didn’t like who she was very much. She desperately wanted to be someone else, and she felt that being a black woman was more appealing than being herself. She needs therapy to find out why she feels like she needs to be seen in this light instead of just being a fabulous woman in her own right. It’s ok to be proud of who you are and where your ancestors can from, but it’s also ok to just be proud to be a human being who doesn’t necessarily fit into a little checkmarked box. Some people claim to be colorblind, but appreciating the awesomeness of people of all races means seeing them in all their full color glory.
Verb tense error. She is long gone from Spokane’s NAACP.
“Lead” is the past tense of “lead.” They are just pronounced differently.
Led is the past tense of lead. Lead with the “led” pronunciation refers to the kind of lead you find in pencils.
I love y’all for debating this. The “a” has been removed from “lead.”
I think this actually warrants a wall. The Dolezal Wall. No trans black. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.
Entry denied ma’am. G’day!
The Dolezwall, if you will.
And lord above, don’t equate what she’s doing with the trans community! She’s an opportunistic grub who’s capitalizing off the struggle of others. Trans people just wanna live in peace and not get murdered every day.
No, to this possum she can’t sit her raman noodle head, fake shake and bake tan arse at the table with us. Go disappear into the ether.
The re-naming is clearly a grab for another fifteen minutes, and I’m not even giving it fifteen seconds.
She had a terrible childhood and is mentally ill. I am not sure bullying her is helpful. I don’t think she should be given any publicity but she should go to a counsellor and get help.
How she feels inside is none of our business unless she’s asking for help, which she’s not. She’s asking for publicity. Judgement is not bullying. It’s what happens when you make yourself the center of the universe.
Sidenote, there are people with terrible childhoods still capable of taking responsibility for poor life decisions. Stop painting survivors as driven to hurt others every time you want to dismiss an act of violence, abuse, or reckless ego. It’s getting really old.
Mostly I just feel sad.
Holy ghost…hmmm, what does your babalawo say? And in America there is a long history of passing. Just like Esu, one side saw her in red, the other in black. Maybe because i,m not a whigga, but a whack nationalist, i say, “Ire, O!”
https://heatst.com/culture-wars/trans-black-rachel-dolezal-changes-her-name-to-nkechi-amare-diallo/
This article mentions Amadou Diallo as a possible reference for her new name too: “In 1999, a Guinean man named Amadou Diallo died in a notorious New York City police shooting, sparking a national uproar.”
She’s already using her new name: “Dolezal, however, already covertly used her new name. She started a Change.org petition back in October under the Diallo name, urging the TEDx organization to release one of her controversial speeches on racemade at the University of Idaho in April 2016. She didn’t disclose that the petition was started by her.”
Nne, this was surely a punchy piece. No holds barred. I fainted at COPE and went comatose from laughter at BLAXIT. But, I wonder about our Nigerians who do the same to the white race. They literally disown their heritage, fake an accent, bleach their skin, and wear weaves at the great risk of balding out just to pretend to be white. What you gonna say to them? They might hide from the BLAXIT movement. You may have to initiate a draft so that part of the gene pool is not lost. I dey wait.
Your article is funny as hell…But I have to admit that I feel for Rachel! And as crazy as it sounds, I find it very flattering that she wants to be Black so bad!!! This world just seems so crazy to me…It’s like with transgender people, males feeling that they are female…If you say something against them, the whole community comes against you siting you don’t understand their struggle….I can see why Rachel would want to be black. We are beautiful people, full of swag & intelligence. I think changing her name is a bit much, though!!!! Luvvie, keep on writing…You make me think, though in this instance, I’m going to give the girl a pass.
Why can’t she give herself nkechi? After all many foolish Nigerians bears sandra, Susan, Michael, smith, Amos, john and so on
No, no no. I’m DEAD tired of this argument. Rachel Dolezal’s ridiculous behaviour and desperate attempts for attention ARE NOT and WILL NEVER BE equivalent to colonialism. Stop thinking this way. The many “foolish Nigerians” you’re talking about are a result of centuries of colonialism and the imposement of White names and White culture upon us. Remove this thought from your mind, abeg! When white people with the names Sandra, Susan, Michael Smith, etc. start getting passed over for jobs like the rest of us with traditional African names, I will see the equivalence. When White people with those names start losing their lives on the streets for the colour of their skin, I will see the equivalence. Stop trying to erase colonialism and blame us for it. She can’t give herself Nkechi because RACHEL doesn’t suffer like Nkechi does. Rachel’s ancestors weren’t historically raped, sold, spat on and abused like the Igbo women brought to the US on slave ships. Many African Americans have white names or white last names not because of choice but because they were stripped of their culture and forced to take on their slave owners names. Furthermore, for all of you that want to bring the STUPID argument about “but black women bleach their skin and wear blond hair”, please search up “Eurocentric beauty standards” and come back to me. When RACHEL has suffered what NKECHI has then she can take the name. *mtchew*
She’s white AF. But if you accept the transgender community are the gender they say they are, not the gender they are, then you’re kinda on shaky ground here.
Not remotely the same thing, Shea. Trans people have documented brain structure quirks that have been found in trans people all over the world in multiple studies. Their brain structures are more closely aligned with the gender they identify as than the sex they’re assigned. (Trans man’s brain is going to look more like a man’s brain than a woman’s brain.)
Far as I and medical science know, there’s no part of the brain that determines race.
Science has proved there is no part of the brain that determines gender either.
I am sending out a personal plea to the COPE secret death squad to convene and discuss this ASAP.
Identity politics dictate that you do not question what a person feels like. If they want to be white, black, or another sex other than their biology, then you will pretend along with them and encourage them in their delusion. You will check your brain at the door and affirm them no matter the mental gymnastics required to do so. Case closed ????
Not remotely the same thing. Trans people have documented brain structure quirks that have been found in trans people all over the world in multiple studies.
Their brain structures are more closely aligned with the gender they identify as than the sex they’re assigned. (Trans man’s brain is going to look more like a man’s brain than a woman’s brain.)
Most trans people don’t deny their sex, which is determined solely by chromosomes… or is it? There are women born-as-women who are XY androgen insensitive. Are they no longer women once they discover they’re XY? Their bodies developed as female. What about the XXY male, who develops breasts and is more feminine than an XY man? Or the XX-X woman, who is taller, stronger, and more masculine than her XX sisters?
Sex and gender are more complicated than reductionists like to admit. Trans people aren’t identity politics, they’re a scientific and psychological fact of life, and have been around for thousands of years in every culture.
Race-swapping? Not so much.
On the other hand, Roger Kean, we have people who do care about other peoples’ health and safety.
Such people notice that trans men and women are killed and raped when society fails to support them. Hence, we support trans men and women, even when calling out a woman claiming to be trans-racial who is in no such danger.
Also, treating people differently because of race is called discrimination, and is the opposite of what we want to happen in society. A woman born white and treated as white is asking us to treat her as if she’s black, but she’s not asking us to bully or belittle her. She’s asking to be accepted as an authority on being black, and getting denied.
Treating someone differently because of gender is unavoidable for a whole host of reasons. Sexual orientations treat genders differently on a physiological level. So do sexual assaults. The fact that physically some of us can get pregnant and some of can’t means that society will always treat half the population differently. So when a trans person asks to be treated as a male or as a female, we aren’t being asked to roll back the wheels of progress or give anybody authority or deference over our experiences. We’re being asked to let people use bathrooms.
Darth Becky does not understand the words “extra”, “thirsty”, and “privileged”. To her mind, they do not exist. Only when she is exposed, does she even show a bit of remorse.
Rachel is BEYOND BECKY.
It’s OK if you like BBC. But that fact alone doesn’t make you black.
So many people try to present themselves as something they biologically are not. It can be taken as flattery. It could be mental illness. At least she isn’t perpetuating the same hate that she receives. I feel sorry for her. She’s trying to be comfortable in her own skin. She doesn’t connect with what she is biologically. What does she stand to gain by living her life as a Black woman? What does she stand to gain by living life as a White woman? Should be equal, right? As a Christian Seminary student, planning to become a Chaplain, I want to support her non-violent, non-hateful perspective and fascinated to better understand where it comes from. Jesus commands we love and help one another in harmony. Human decency says the same.
I am pretty sure most Nigerians have never heard of Rachel, and if they have, they will laugh about it and move on. Africans do not feel the need to police their blackness in the same way. Mainly because Rachel is offensive to black americans. It has all to do with the natural process of post-slavery justice. Once structural reparations and social transformation have taken place, then EVERYONE (White and black) can move on. But Rachel decided not to contribute to that process, and has moved on by herself, skipping the difficult part of revealing and transforming the meaning of american whiteness, which she can do because she is white. Her choice is therefore not only a problem because she has not suffered the legacy of slavery as a black person, but more so because her choices do nothing for the process of white people owning slavery as an intrinsic part of their whiteness/culture/identity, etc.
The context of slavery is key here, not just abstract notions of race, and for this reason it does not translate that easily to issues of sexuality or gender.
This woman and her story have me so beyond angry. First off, this blog is amazing and I was laughing out loud with every word. So thank you for the much needed humor on my Thursday afternoon.
I have quite a bizarre story similar to this about my own mother, however instead of dreaming of being black, she wanted to be an indian, Native American, straight up Pocahontas. She was born and raised in Chicago by a polish/french couple who could not be more white. In HS she was so obsessed with Native Americans that she dressed like them, stock piled native american jewelry that she found at thrift shops and stuff, and learned the Native American flute.
When she turned 18, she legally changed her last name to a Native American one that i’m quite sure she just picked out of a hat, lied to the Govt and joined the Marines under the moniker, and attended a University for next to nothing because she got all these scholarships and shit for being Native American. When I was born she raised me to believe she was adopted at age 3 from an Indian reservation in North Dakota, and that she was a Sioux Indian.
I believed it until I was 17, and by then I had a history of friends behind me who believed I was an Indian. Because my parents hyphenated their name, my moms way of keeping her ‘native american heritage’ and not losing it, i simply stopped using it at all from that point on. But it’s motivated ME to be a voice behind the #nodapl movement because I feel so connected to it due to the shame my mom has brought me.
So yeah, to echo your thoughts..white people be cray. Guilty.
I’ve known at least 5 people over the years who tried pretending to be Indian, or who claimed they were whatever% Indian when they definitely were not…. Weird.
Amare is also an Ethiopian name meaning handsome – my son’s name. She is NOT welcome to it.
Wow … she hella leaned in though. Off-topic: I do wonder if the Dead Sea Scrolls are good reading.
Ewooooooooooo. Amadioha, this one has come to join us, chukwu okike, why? *Ululates igbotically in sorrow*
Oh, water has swallowed me. Ndi Igbo ndo nu. Upon all the marginalisation, this one that cannot even sell ordinary story wants to follow and hustle for container na waterside. This one with thirsty ancestors who haven’t been given libation, now wants to eat and drink with us and rub her fingers in our palm oil. *Sighs in Things Fall Apart*
Please, we the Community of Ndi Igbo at Home and Abroad (CNIHaA) reject any attempts by this person, whose ancestors bought and sold some of us like chickens in the marketplace, to belong to our group. We did not kill all our twins to be punished by the gods like this. We declare that Amadioha will smite anyone that tries to appropriate our culture (both with lightning AND bees), Ani, the earth goddess will reject their remains so that their spirits will walk the earth unmourned.
Ngwa kontinu. My ogbono soup is getting cold and watery because I cried into it. Needless to say, we don’t have land space. Maybe try the Hausas in the North? I hear Sambisa forest is good.
Ill take her over Raven Seymone any day. IJS
Funny how this article is written in English, a white man’s language, but we are here attacking a white woman who wants to be black.
SELAH
Why is that moron STILL pulling this shite?? Can we blast her into space or something
I hereby dub her in Shona: Kupenga Musikana, or crazy girl. You’re welcome.
Her mama named her Rachel, I’m gon’ call her Rachel!
Akant take this!!! Lawd Akant take this anymore!!!!
Who is Nigerians? I didn’t see any Nigeria name there, I only saw Igbo name and the last I knew my parents denounced Nigeria and ceased to be Nigerians forever.
So when you Nigeria genocidist try to highjack our culture, you should know
For the Igbo, the renouncement of Nigerian citizenship was a permanent Igbo indictment of a state that had risen thunderously to murder one of its constituent peoples. The Igbo could not have survived the genocide if they still remained Nigerian.’
So when the author of this article claim “we Nigerians”
They re intellectual disgusting
Lmaooo Chile bye. Seeing as how Biafra still isn’t recognized, igbos are Nigerians. Olodo. Like Californians who wanna exit claiming they are no longer Americans. Igbos born in Nigeria still hold Nigerian passports. So gbenu e soun.
I’m just here to say that Nkechi means God’s own. Girl couldn’t even get it right.
*Looking at all of the false equivalencies devoid of any and all historical, political, economic and social context in the comments to justify the bronzer abuser and shaking my head*
Isn’t it the saddest thing?!
Send NEPA to the offices of TMZ for acknowledging her as Nkechi! Before long she’ll be posting tutorials on making akara and pounded yam on a YouTube channel while wearing Ankara prints, talking about “These foods and prints make me feel like myself…”
We, the white people, don’t claim her crazy ass either. Any takers?
We kind of have to. That’s the point. You can’t dodge white guilt by denying that things other white people do have to do with you, and that washing-our-hands-of-it thing isn’t going to help. She’s not the first or only white person wishing nobody saw her as white. We’ve got to treat the issue as a community one and figure out better tools for dealing with white guilt or whatever it is that drives her to deny her heritage.
Oh dear God please no. The white people don’t want her ass either. Please, someone else take her. The moon? Can the moon take her? Please?
Stop. Appropriating. Others’. Cultures. Rachel. Please, for the love of every deity known to mankind. Just… just stop. Please. You make all of us look bad. You make the entire human race look bad. And you REALLY make white allies look bad. You are the reason people of color have trouble having their stories taken seriously. You are the reason the term “SJW” was invented. You are part of the problem, Ray-ray, and I will absolutely continue to deadname the shit out of you because how DARE you treat your white privilege the same way as the very real issues trans people face?
Please crawl into a hole, Rachel. Please never come out again. You need mental help.
Big difference between appreciation and appropriation. What she’s doing? Definitely appropriating culture. Not cool. Don’t send her to the moon, though. She’ll find one of those little robots and claim she’s one too! Then NASA’s gonna have to pay her ass to explore.
Luvvie has my side hurting up in here! I’m having a little womb pain and not sure this laughter is helping or not, but lord I just hollered 5 times reading this. And just the opening — the Nigerian Delegation? lmao Woo sah. On a serious note though I believe that this woman needs professional help and healing.
Geez Louise! I know us Black women are the bomb dot com. I know we got the sexiest bodies, the skin that ages like fine wine, the prettiest hair, the most sensual lips and last but not least the intellect to back everything on up, but Rachel girl….you can’t hang so just stop! LOL! You are not a Black woman so you will just have to deal.
If she irks you so much, why do you keep writing about her? How has her name change affected your life? If she wants to identify as black or adopt a Nigerian name, how does it take food away from YOUR table.. should every Nigerian bearing English names give their names back? This article is done in poor taste.. you have obviously been out of touch with Nigeria for so long you don’t know what issues real Nigerians care about.. surely not someone who choose to use the name Nkechi.. you of all people should know Nigerians would welcome her with open arms and show her love – not hate – THIS Nigerian inclusive …
Dear Nkechi, if you ever need to visit naija, pls you are welcome as my guest. This lady DOES NOT represent the views of US Nigerians.
With that said Ms Ajayi… wa ishe she cos you are clearly idle .. dedicate your so called we naijas time to helping naija not making us look like racist cunts!
Ha! This IS my job. Mad about it? ????
[…] model, written a book about her life, given birth to a son named him after Langston Hughes, legally adapted a new Nigerian name and repeatedly alleged she is on the brink of homelessness. She reports many of these […]
[…] she’s changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo, which strings together some Igbo and Fulani names like a cultural appropriation rosary and which, […]
[…] model, written a book about her life, given birth to a son and named him after Langston Hughes, legally adapted a new Nigerian name and repeatedly alleged she is on the brink of homelessness. She reports many of these things […]
Here’s the thing, there may have to be a new name for it, and it could be ‘trans-racial’. . . And it may be an actual thing.
Look, technically we’re all (and that means everyone) related to the same African ancestor (google it), so she’s she basically re-claiming it. Oddly, yes, but it is what is.
I foresee a time, as the technique of racism becomes increasingly abandoned, where we will have less duplicitous folks of another skin-tone, publicly re-embracing their ‘roots.’ That will be odd too, but it’s far better than the status quo, no?
Peace.
If a man can go from Bruce to Caitlin and to top it all, win a “Woman of the Year” Award, I don’t see anything wrong with Nkechi. If she feels black, then let her be black. I don’t get what the big deal is Nkechi I am Nigerian and I accept you! Nkechi, do you boo! #NkechiPepperThem
You’ve got a bit of a mixup here. Nkechi actually means “the one God gave me”, the full name being “Nkechinyerem”. And “gift of God” is actually “Onyinyechi”. Meanwhile, she should come and carry the name let me see her. Nepa has definitely taken light in her head! Onyeara!!!!
[…] After we had had our laughs, think pieces and processed the utter nerve of this woman. Out of nowhere, she decided to attempt to out black Black-Americans by changing her name to a West African name that means (ironically) gift of god; Nkechi short for Nkechinyere. And every Nigerian on the internet gave a resounding and unanimous ahbeg. […]
Honestly the fact that she chose an Igbo first name and tacked on a Hausa/Fulani last name is what makes me laugh the most. She could’ve at least chose an Igbo last name like Obi or Okafor if she wanted it to look more realistic. L’s everywhere
Amare is my sister’s late FIL’s name. He was Ethiopian.
This Darth Becky can’t even stick to one side of the African continent.
Against my better judgement, I actually really feel sorry for this woman. How messed up do you have to be to reject your whole identity?
Is it possible to just let her be? She genuinely ( or appears to) feel black. Let’s just free her abeg, and move on! But I had a good laugh at Mystery Melanin, Chai!!!
As for President Bubu, I just can’t! Now we’re dealing with Dino Melaye and his blatant lie that will disgrace all liars and convert them to truth tellers. We neva finish, there’s another Senator that allegedly faked his WAEC certificate. Upon Hameed Ali issue, plus Magu confirmation, I just can’t work up outrage for this Rachael woman.
Don’t hate. Everyone’s entitled to identify however they wish – you don’t have to like it… hell, you don’t even have to think it’s sane.
If people can decide to become transgender, why can’t they also be transracial?
Is race more sacred than gender?