Icheoku say unlike Tina Turner who sang 'what's love got to do with it,' the now erstwhile chairperson of Spokane Washington's chapter of NAACP, Rachel Dolezal, must now be humming her own tune 'what's skin pigmentation got to do with it?' Except that she was outed by her own estranged mother, the woman who gave birth to a blue eyed, blonde girl, she named Rachel. A woman who cannot any longer, stand idly by and watch the white fraud she raised, masquerading herself as a black woman and milking its attendant benefits, including attending black colleges and now rising up to the chairperson of the largest colored organization in the United States, NAACP, Spokane chapter. A case of the heavens having no fury like a woman scorned; except that in this case it was her own biological mother who wanted a pound of flesh from a daughter who had walked away from her life.
Icheoku asks why does it matter that Rachel Dolezal preferred to be black and forgoing all the inherent benefits which being a white person confers in America, especially a beautiful, blue-eyed, all American blonde? King of Pop Michael Jackson once attempted bridging this deep racial chasm in America, through a radical transformation of his look, all in an effort to be accepted in a racially divided America, but did not succeed. His ill-fated transformation included vaporizing his black pigmentation through skin lightening chemical treatment and also doing a nose job; but regardless, he was still treated as that black kid from Gary Indiana and it hunted him throughout his career until the same forces fast forwarded his death by suicide of overdose. Icheoku recalls that it was during this his futile effort to become an acceptable "white person" in America that he released his record "Bad" and a title track therein "it doesn't matter if you're black or white". But America told him to his face that it does indeed matter what pigmentation your skin is and they closed so many doors at his face leading to his once protesting Sony Records Tommy Mottola in company of Reverend Al Sharpton. Anyway, that is by way of laying some background to the latest story of the morphing of a very white Montana girl named Rachael into a black lady named Rachel Dolezal, the Spokane's Washington's chairperson for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons.
As with the unfolding case of Rachel Dolezal, the color of the skin does indeed still matter a lot in a racially divided United States of America. It seems literally to be the everything that gets anywhere, as it still plays a major role in America, regardless of all the sanctimonious "me so good" of a United States for all, where everyone is supposedly equal. A Rachel Dolezal, who, but for a furious mother, no one would have known that her true biological makeup is Caucasian; and who successfully fooled everyone in America into believing that she is black and for so long, admitted not black enough by reason of her being biracial. Icheoku hers was a case where the love of being black was not sufficient or enough and could not operate to remove the white blood or white genealogy which is her DNA. Icheoku says since this lady had successfully passed herself off as a black person and for so long, it wouldn't have made any difference had she gone all out by injecting herself with black pigmentation to truly turn black, once her enraged mother decided on outing her.
Then one asks, whatever happened to where the heart is in this matter and so what if she was biologically born white? If indeed she truly believes that she is a black lady trapped in a white skin, why shouldn't she be allowed to remain black and stay a closeted white? Why is it not okay to allow her choose the skin color she is comfortable in? Icheoku harps if it was okay for Kaitlyn "Bruce"Jenner for example to choose to become a woman, why is it not okay for Rachel "White person" Dolezal to elect to become Rachel "Black person" Dolezal instead? Afterall this is America and in America anything goes that supposedly makes any person happy and in order for that person not to be discriminated against? But unfortunately, it is not always so in America and in Spokane Washington, a predominantly white region of America, they would not have any of their bimbos parading and passing off as black. So the pressure mounted and a hounded Rachel Dolezal capitulated and resigned her office as chairperson of that chapter's NAACP; but whether or not she will eventually come out clean as to her true skin pigmentation, the jury is still out. But who cares and should anybody care, definitely not Icheoku.
But serving as a devil's advocate, Icheoku says if "white" is a skin-color and NAACP is an association for the advancement of colored persons which by extension encompasses or should encompass persons colored of white, so what difference then does it make whether or not Rachel Dolezal is white; and why should this paradigm affect her membership and/or leadership of a chapter of NAACP? Icheoku says Rachel Dolezal is a colored person, of white color and therefore should be a bona fides NAACP material by reason of their membership charter. Therefore, Icheoku aligns self with the position of the national body of NAACP that "anyone's racial identity is not and should not be a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for either NAACP membership or its leadership;" hence Icheoku urges for the matter of Rachel Dolezal to be accordingly treated. Icheoku disagrees that there is any "ultimate betrayal" in what Rachel Dolezal did as her action merely progressed and did not in any way retrogress the association. Icheoku regards such disparaging claims as that of jealous detractors out to nail her, regardless. Icheoku emphasizes that her action in turning black, was rather a display of great love and affection for the black race rather than anything sinister or ulterior; especially when it is no longer hip to be 'black and proud' in America that even some blacks are craftily distancing themselves from being black.
So rather than chastise her, she should be commended for bravely standing up to be counted amongst the now endangered specie and perpetual minority of the American society. What should be paramount here is her honest intention to make things better for the black people of Spokane Washington and not her ways and means of getting her objective mission-accomplished. Further if a white man, Don Harris, could head a chapter of NAACP in Phoenix Arizona, what does it matter if a white woman, who is hiding her true colors, is the head of Spokane NAACP chapter? Icheoku says it is an open secret that so many gay men and women of America are still hiding in the closet and openly parading themselves as heterosexuals. But this does not make them any less gay or indeed change who they truly are; so why single out a white lady who is hiding her whiteness and discriminate against her for being similarly closeted, although as to her true color rather than sexuality? Icheoku does not see anything wrong nor different from being a closeted gay man or woman and being a closeted white person since both are trying to mask a true identity while presenting a facade because of discomfiture as to the real face behind the mask. Therefore a white lady who is not comfortable being white in a racial America should and ought to be allowed her privacy to white anonymity and if she elects to be black, so be it?
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