A Jumble of Thoughts on the Case of Rachel Dolezal

The racial mix tape playing in my head at the moment. June 12, 2015 is Loving Day. It celebrates the 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia that ruled anti-miscegenation laws to be unconstitutional. Susie Phipps versus The State of Louisiana in 1982 or 1983 the State Supreme Court decided Phipps was legally black despite phenotypically looking white and her family living as white for generations. Wanda Sykes depicting "coming out" as black to her family. The social construction of racial identity and racial authenticity. Unpacking shifting strategic benefits and shortcomings of racial passing. Opting out of the work of gaining the trust of an oppressed racial group. Children as inadequate transmitters of racial identity. Racial Allies versus Racial Imposters. If racial identity is socially constructed and not tied to phenotype or ancestry what does it mean to detach it from both of those things? Also, not for nothing, but in my life I have seen a lot of white looking black folks. Here's a case of "The One Drop Rule" without One Drop.