The Racial Identity Movement

If you've been following the news at all, this face -- there's just one -- will look familiar. For those unfamiliar with this woman, her name is Rachel Dolezal, and she is white but, as she puts it, "identifies" as black.

She's gotten a lot of flack over that, the most serious being her life falling apart. She's lost her NAACP position and her job, and her old university is questioning whether she misled them back in the day about her race.

This may seem odd to say, but I think she looks better as a black woman. It suits her. But then the question comes up, "Can you just become a different race?"

I'm sure that's what part of this is about. Someone lying about her race would only merit one or two headlines, but public outcry can merit so many more. It's the public's anger and incredulity that has made this a bigger story. So I can only assume the underlying anger is black people thinking she doesn't deserve to be black, she didn't earn it, and white people thinking she's a big fat liar who put on a new face because she thought it'd be cool and she'd go further.

I know these are just assumptions, but they lead to my point, which is this: If we live in a society that allows one to choose their style of dress, lifestyle, religion and even gender, why can someone not also choose their race?

I see this as possibly the next stage of the human rights movement. After the gay marriage and gay rights movement dies down a bit, we'll turn to allowing people to choose their own race, which is indeed part of their identity. After all, how silly is the phrase, "I identify as black," after Bruce Jenner told the world, "I identify as a woman," and the world cheered him on (at least, the loudest people seem to)? It is not that big of a logical leap. It's little more than a baby step.

I don't know whether I see a problem with deciding one's own race or not. It could be looked at as embracing your true self or as turning your back on your ancestors and choosing someone else's.

Perhaps someone will pull the racist card and say we're all racist for making fun of a woman who wants to be a different race (blacks are racist because she's white and not one of them, whites are racist because she's decided to be black).

Perhaps someone will say we're pigeon-holing her, taking away her right to be who and what she wants to be.

I'm putting this on a reading and writing blog for a number of reasons. 1) It's my blog, I can do what I want with it. 2) It's my blog, I don't have another to use. 3) If you want to write science fiction, or contemporary fiction, you have to pay attention to stuff like this.

Science fiction is about looking at the world as it is and applying a slippery slope. The essential question is "What if?" My husband pointed out that the Rachel Dolezal thing could lead to a science fiction novel where everyone can change their skin color just like we do with hair now. Race and identity become a giant gray area and ...

The technology is there if we cared enough to make it happen, after all.

Critically think about the news and you will find story ideas. Critically think about the news, and you may discover you're a psychic. I think we'll have a race movement in a decade or so. Prediction made.