BREAKING NEWS: Rachel Dolezal, Black After All

(EnviroNews World News) — On June 15, 2015 headlines around the world rang of Rachael Dozal — the recently racially outed caucasian leader of the Spokane NAACP. Turn on any mainstream media new channel today and you’re going to be listening to an ethical debate surrounding the now racially defunct leader of the African American rights group.

“Is it so wrong for a white woman to call herself black?” stated anchor Don Lemon at the top of his CNN evening newscast. “Is imitation the best form of flattery?” he asked later in the show as a black woman on the panel blasted Dolezal for her race faking.

Dozal resigned on Monday, following much criticism and controversy after it was uncovered that she wasn’t actually black as she had been claiming all along.

Traveling back in time to 2009, headlines around the world were downright boisterous with phrases such as, “Out of Ethiopia – DNA studies suggest that all humans today descended from Ethiopia,” and “African tribe populated rest of the world.”

The articles and television pieces circulating on this topic in the media discussed an expansive genetic study that concluded all homo sapiens on earth can be traced to a very small tribe out of Ethiopia.

The Telegraph wrote, “The entire human race outside Africa owes its existence to the survival of a single tribe of around 200 people who crossed the Red Sea 70,000 years ago, scientists have discovered.”

The BBC even did an entire documentary on the topic titled, The Incredible Human Journey wherein they make an all out effort to display how the human code’s been cracked — the common thread revealed.

While media companies were quick to jump on these topics back in 2009 to create viewership and headlines, they have so far been forgetful of their reporting in the seesaw discussions regarding the ethics of the “transracial” person.

Many white people at the time thought the idea of having some ancient indigenous African DNA in them was the coolest thing ever, and that it was totally groovy that weren’t Johnny Totally White after all (although Ted Nugent probably didn’t like the scientific discovery much). And, what an incredible credit to the ancient people of Ethiopia — to think, that one tribe was able to give birth to all of humanity — not only in Africa, but the whole of the world. Sounded good at the time, and that’s how the media reported it.

There was no mention this week of the common Ethiopian DNA thread that media once reported was connecting us all, as pundit after pundit — black to white, offered up their views on the topic. Some were offended — others amused — others indifferent, when it came to how harsh the judgement of Rachel Dolezal should be.

It seems safe to say that there are plenty of indigenous and “ethnic” people in the world with no “white” in them, but in 2009 the U.S. and international media confidently reported that we do all have a little bit of black in us. The question is: how much does a person need to actually claim they are “black?” One percent? Ninety percent? Is it more about how they look? — the amount of DNA? — or how and where a person was raised and has lived?

It would seem that Dolezal, being a “white” person, should be judged less harshly than say, a racist bigot is judged for embodying her imaginary blackness. While Dolezal did excel up various ladders in life with a dishonest claim, should she be judged as harshly as a race hater, for being a race embracer?

The late Peter Tosh, reggae star and civil rights leader, put out a very catchy tune back in the day that says, “No mind your nationality, you have got the identity of an African.” The tune is certainly very good for igniting thought on the aforementioned DNA analysis that takes us all back to Ethiopia — the birthplace of Rastafarianism as well by the way.

Reporters appeared in the media today talking about how Dolezal actually did a pretty good job as leader of Spokane’s NAACP. So we ask the question: if we are all carrying Ethiopian DNA, should Dolezal be publicly shamed until the end of days for embracing that ancient heritage? We will leave that question for the talking head pundits to debate as they spin round and round at the moment on CNN, MSNBC and multitudes of other networks.

On a side note, Ted Nugent recently said he’d kill himself if he had any African in him. It would appear that Ted is still in denial — not ready to embrace his Ethiopian roots — because last time we checked — he was still here.