Jessica Krug, a white Jewish writer, has been revealed to be lying about being a black woman for much of her adult life.

[Cicada 5]

Yes, we have another Rachel Dolezal

For the better part of my adult life, every move I’ve made, every relationship I’ve formed, has been rooted in the napalm toxic soil of lies.

Not just any lies.

***

To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness. I have not only claimed these identities as my own when I had absolutely no right to do so — when doing so is the very epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures — but I have formed intimate relationships with loving, compassionate people who have trusted and cared for me when I have deserved neither trust nor caring. People have fought together with me and have fought for me, and my continued appropriation of a Black Caribbean identity is not only, in the starkest terms, wrong — unethical, immoral, anti-Black, colonial — but it means that every step I’ve taken has gaslighted those whom I love.

A White Woman Admits She's Been Rachel Dolezal-ing Us for Years—and I Feel Fine

I admit that I don’t know how to feel about this story.

www.theroot.com

 

[Revnak]

It’s pretty easy to not pretend to be black. I’ve never pretended to be black in my life.

 

[Worgen]

Isn't this old news by this point? I seem to recall first hearing about this a million years ago in 2019 or so.

 

[CM156]

I’ve never pretended to be black in my life.

Same.
I've also never done blackface. Which is apparently something else that a few people find it hard not to do.

I have been accused of belonging to other ethnic groups, though. Through no fault of my own. Mostly British or Canadian.

 

[Gordon_4]

Well, this is surely going to be a thing

 

[Agema]

It’s pretty easy to not pretend to be black.

Depends how messed up you are, I guess.

In the cases of Dolezal and - allegedly - Krug, there's a background of an abusive / controlling family. Potentially what's happened is that both of them have ended up looking at the history of black oppression, and interpreted a powerful parallel to their own childhood lives (possibly subconsciously). Then, wanting to discard their identity and form a new one, they took that feeling of affinity and turned into a pretence. I think we can also bear in mind how attractive it might be to put oneself in a community which offers support, strength and pride: it might be vicarious for them, but it's powerful enough.

This doesn't make it okay. But I think we can understand how they might get there, and it's potentially not through malevolence, but because they are seriously troubled people who have gone far astray trying to deal with their issues. Actually, I think it's particularly unlikely Dolezal was malevolent, I think even when busted she had real trouble letting go of it.

 

[McElroy]

Same.
I've also never done blackface. Which is apparently something else that a few people find it hard not to do.

I wear blackface pretty much all the time, but it's under my KKK hood so people don't notice. Those two cancel each other out, don't they?

OT: Lying on the Internet? Who would do such a thing?

 

[BrawlMan]

Yes, we have another Rachel Dolezal

A White Woman Admits She's Been Rachel Dolezal-ing Us for Years—and I Feel Fine

I admit that I don’t know how to feel about this story.

www.theroot.com

Another black wannabe? Why? What do you seriously have to gain? Just be yourself lady.

 

[Iron]

She's a clever girl

Depends how messed up you are, I guess.

In the cases of Dolezal and - allegedly - Krug, there's a background of an abusive / controlling family. Potentially what's happened is that both of them have ended up looking at the history of black oppression, and interpreted a powerful parallel to their own childhood lives (possibly subconsciously). Then, wanting to discard their identity and form a new one, they took that feeling of affinity and turned into a pretence. I think we can also bear in mind how attractive it might be to put oneself in a community which offers support, strength and pride: it might be vicarious for them, but it's powerful enough.

This doesn't make it okay. But I think we can understand how they might get there, and it's potentially not through malevolence, but because they are seriously troubled people who have gone far astray trying to deal with their issues. Actually, I think it's particularly unlikely Dolezal was malevolent, I think even when busted she had real trouble letting go of it.

Holocaust wasn't good enough for her?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Why do people do this? I'm really at a loss to explain such behaviour.

She's a clever girl

Jumping before she was pushed? Can't say I'm surprised.

 

[Agema]

Holocaust wasn't good enough for her?

Very obviously not if she was trying to escape being Jewish.

 

[Iron]

Very obviously not if she was trying to escape being Jewish.

Iran has to step up its game so she could have some more oppression points

 

[SupahEwok]

Just goes into the whole silliness of racial identity, honestly.

 

[Agema]

Iran has to step up its game so she could have some more oppression points

Check the post #6 again carefully, potentially I don't think anything could have granted enough Jewish oppression points.

 

[Hawki]

Why do people do this? I'm really at a loss to explain such behaviour.

In a word? Identity politics.

Yes, I know that's two words. I know this is going to piss off a lot of people, but here's some stuff:

-Fact: At this point in time, African Americans are more disadvantaged when compared to Jewish Americans. Look up the racial wealth gap. I'm wary of this, because there's always exceptions, but as a general rule, this is what the stats indicate.

-Observation: There's a kind of social currency to coming from a disadvantaged background, or even coming outside the dominant group. Escaping poverty is more glamerous than living a life of luxury for instance. Again, I don't want to sound insensitive, because obviously living in poverty is much worse than losing out on 'social capital,' but it's a social capital that still exists. To quote Huxley, Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand. And look, I'm not even immune to it. I don't think any of us are.

-Observation: Over the last 5-10 years, I've noticed a shift in the idea of 'authority from identity.' As in, you can't write or talk about Group X, if you don't belong to Group X. Or at the very least, there's a kind of authority to belonging to the group you're talking about. As in, keeping to the identities described here, writing about Jewish history will give the author more authority if they're Jewish themselves. Writing about Afro-American history will be more 'authentic' if the author is African-American. Writing about Native American history will be more authentic if...well, you get the idea.

Now, to be fair, I think there's some merit to this idea, because history isn't neutral. I think it's good to get as many people from all walks of life involved in history, writing, art, etc., because the sum total of human knowledge and art will benefit from it. However, there's a difference between saying that "more people should be able to express themselves" and "you can only write about your own group." Which is an argument that I've seen be made. This isn't just in non-fiction, this is in fiction as well, the idea of writing outside your "identity group." Speaking personally, getting writers from various backgrounds is a good thing. But confining people to writing to their own "lived experience" is a terrible idea.

So that leaves us with Ms. Krug. She's listed as being a professor of African and Latin American studies, and claimed African ancestry, and only came clean when someone looked it up. So, on one hand, I'm not defending her actions - it's all very well to apologize after you've been caught. On the other, I can kind of understand them, if I accept that by claiming such ancestry, it would give her more of a sense of authority for the teaching of such courses. TBH, what pisses me off the most is the 'apology' she gave on Medium, which was so full of buzzwords, bees heard it from a mile away.

So, where does that leave us? I dunno. For starters, I'd advise people to remember Twain, who said "don't lie - that way, you don't have to remember anything." Second, don't go down the path of 'ownership' of information, because you can't segregate people or their cultures, and it would be a loss to collective society to even try. Far as I'm concerned, she has every right to teach such history, because going over the news, she was clearly qualified in the subject. And third, make society better so no-one can claim social capital from disadvantaged groups, because those groups are no longer disadvantaged.

Anyway, that's just me. TL, DR version is that:

-I think she has every right to teach the history of those outside her 'group'

-I think it's wrong for her to claim ancestry of said group

-I can understand why she did it.

-Her apology is insincere

-Identity is good, identity politics is bad

 

[ObsidianJones]

-Identity is good, identity politics is bad

This is what I wanted to focus the most on because while I might be addressing other parts of your post, this is the crux of what I want to talk about.

Identity Politics has to be a thing because others will not come to grips with treating fellow human beings a certain way, so they have to be different. The politics of trying to claim humanity while being of a different culture is a potent battle.

Here's an example. Why are there no movements to be able to call women the 'B-word'? Perhaps I'm not looking deeply into things, but I can't go anywhere on the internet without some non-African culture saying how it's censorship that they aren't allowed to say the 'N-word'.

But I never see it followed up about how they should be allowed to say the B-word. No one goes up to a Latin person and say "Hey, I can call you 'ese'". The most I'd allow is saying the 'F-word', but there's no pretense with that. It's wholly derogatory. No one pretends its about censorship. They just want to hate. And I for one respect that more than trying to lie about censorship. I'll never agree with them that the LGBTQ+ community should be denigrated, but at least they are honest with their convictions.

By members of this forum, I'm told about the Black Communities I was raised in. Citing outdated statistics submitted by an invading force that can not help but to show its ass again and again. Found falsifying evidence, mass arrests for quotas, quota based policing, trumped up charges, Imbalanced sentencing and arrests for crimes done in equal measures between the races... and the manner and ideals these members feel they are permitted to speak about the black community based off these things is disgraceful, in my opinion. Because they won't even allow for the idea of revisiting their conclusions when time and time again, their sources have been publicly shown to be tainted.

Now, I ask you. Which is worse? Is it worse that these members made this rhetoric apart of their identity? Or they push it as their identity politics? You can make arguments for both, and all I see are negatives each stance.

Semi-back on topic, the reason why Group X can only talk about Group X is because for the large part, the majority doesn't want to talk about anything that they are not onboard with or wanting to admit out loud. Again, sticking with the black community, it was a common statement that blacks were just outright lying about how police treated the community. No one believed. And since no one believed, the abuse was allowed to continue. The ability to dictate the conversation was never apart of the African American experience, so that lack of power led to countless injustices.

The acknowledgment of cultures were largely held under the majority's sway. "Why do you need to be called African-American? You're just black" is something I had to argue with for the majority of my teens. I, yes, might just be the descendant of slaves brought from Africa to here in the US. But that's not the same for Haitians, Jamaicans, Afro-Latinex, Grenadians, etc. All of which have rich cultures that people don't even want to bother with because it's easier to askew it for just 'black'.

Every moment to define the Black Experience from outside the Black Experience is a movement to erode its relevancy. Black Lives Matter was a movement born from just not escalating to violence every time there's a black suspect being arrested. That was turned in media and the minds of the majority that Blacks hate cops and want to attack them. And people who weren't invested heard that interpretation and decided that's what the movement truly means. I know. I had to educate several. And some are still uneasy with the movement because they were exposed to the majority's message before the actual message. These are the things that causes the struggle for identity politics. The other people's definitions will supplant what your actual intentions are.

So, if you'll permit me, I'll amend the statement. The need for identity politics is bad. However, it's like Assured Mutual Destruction. It must be a thing because without it, those without the power to launch (or speak with authority) would be crushed under the boots of those allowed said power.

 

[Dreiko]

I am confused about this because while there's this popular meme about people who like anime and whatnot "wishing they could have been Japanese" or something along those lines, I never understood where that came from. I just see my affection for this cultural artifact or that one as a part of myself being whatever I already am. I believe that being not from the place of origin of a lot of things I like lets me appreciate them from a different vantage point, I get to enjoy traits in them that were I to indeed "be Japanese" I would take for granted and not appreciate as much.


So all that being the case, I don't get why this lady can't just be a fan of black culture and have it be a facet of herself, a part that is there partially exactly BECAUSE she isn't black.


The only reason I can come up with to excuse this (other than some underlying mental illness or something) is that this culture is anti-white/jewish and it makes you feel bad for not being black but still participating in it so in order to be accepted, in order to be a full member and get all the accolades you should be getting anyways, you have to be black yourself.

I'm sorry to say, but that is a racial-supremacist view to have. Even if you're being oppressed. Hell, especially then, since you should know better than anyone that racial-supremacy is horrific. By creating such an atmosphere where random people have to claim to be black to fit in, you reveal yourself to not be against racial supremacy, but just against your race not being the one that is seen as supreme. I hope I'm wrong about that.

 

[lil devils x]

Same.
I've also never done blackface. Which is apparently something else that a few people find it hard not to do.

I have been accused of belonging to other ethnic groups, though. Through no fault of my own. Mostly British or Canadian.

I have been accused of being all sorts of other ethnic groups because most people seem to not even know what a Hopi is, or even understand what that can entail. They always assume Native Americans only have black hair too and all look the same when some native american tribes can have any hair color naturally. Sometimes people are all shocked and even weirded out when they attend traditional gatherings on the Hopi reservation and find out that there are full blood Hopi red heads and blondes too even prior to Europeans arriving due to our genetic makeup. In our past, Hopi had to hide some of the children from Europeans when they came because they ignorantly thought the Hopi families had kidnapped non native children, when in fact our tribe has always had these genetic variations. Scientists have attributed this being so common in our tribe vs others due to a much higher prevalence of albinism and has resulted in a large variety of degree of expression of albinism traits in the community. In places like Norway, for example, the frequency of Albanism was like 1 in 10,000 in the Hopi tribe was like 1 in 200. So the result of that produces a large varying degree of shades of hair, skin and eyes not just looking like all color has been washed out. I have family members on the reservation with blonde hair and blue eyes, with red hair and green eyes, with black hair and brown eyes and all sorts of mixes in between.

People having weird reactions comes with the territory though when you are the only person of your ethnicity in entire regions. People look at me and can't figure out what I am. I have never had someone guess just by ,looking at me. I have long straight, fine, light brown hair that gets natural blonde sun hightlights, and can turn blonde on top if I spend too much time in the sun and do not use hair protector and lighter skin than most Hopi, but my skin looks like I have a natural tan even when I do not go in the sun and people always say my eyes confuse them the most because I have larger than normal eyes that have a bit of an asian look to them on the outer edges but are deeper set with a European looking eyelid unlike most asians. They are big and multiple shades of brown, not one solid color and one of eye has a darker brown streak through the iris that looks sort of like harry potter's lightning bolt. Usually people think I am Japanese, South Korean, Eastern European or Latina but they can't seem to figure out what "mix" of each I am. When I tell them " Hopi" they look at me with a "WTF is that even?" expression. Their reactions are pretty funny. When I was a kid, how they reacted bothered me, but now I just find it funny.

 

[lil devils x]

Yes, we have another Rachel Dolezal

A White Woman Admits She's Been Rachel Dolezal-ing Us for Years—and I Feel Fine

I admit that I don’t know how to feel about this story.

www.theroot.com

At first I thought, "How the hell did they get away with pretending they were black and noone at these universities and organizations they worked for not noticing that they weren't black?" but then I thought that was a stupid thing to say and erased it because biracial and, like I mentioned above, even on our reservations we have all skin tones, hair and eye colors too so I think that was me essentially doing what I thought others were doing to our tribe as well so I guess it isn't that easy to tell by looking at someone either and just taking them at their word.

What I find most disappointing about what these women have done is they took a position from one of the black women who would have otherwise had these positions. Instead of helping their community from an honest ability to empathize, they just "took" it from them instead. It feels like they stole their identity and position that would have otherwise been awarded to a member of that community instead. She had opportunities they did not due to her race as a child and then she was able to use that to "shoulder out" someone else who had to actually experience what it was like growing up with the disadvantages in their community for the job. People not growing up with those disadvantages cannot truly understand what it is liked to be judged by their appearance alone and having to overcome that and the other abundant systemic disadvantages they had to deal with just to survive to make it that far. She just skipped the hard part and took the job that should have gone to those who actually had to live through that instead.

Hell if all any school, business or group needed to do to diversify their staff was start claiming to be other races, no one from those actual minority groups would ever get a foot in the door as they would all still be taken by white people, with the same advantages white people are privileged to have, just they would be white people claiming not to be who never had to actually live through the discrimination against them that actual minorities experience. It just looks like a means to continue segregation and discrimination without it looking like they are on paper.

 

[Shadyside]

So she was doing blackface on paper.