While largely unheard of in the real world, a person identifying themselves with another race is hardly unique.
Rachel Dolezal exits her home with an adopted persona — set off by an ethnic hairstyle, a contrived complexion, and her culture-cred as the President of the NAACP branch in Spokane, Wash., intact. The white activist who started living as a black woman a decade ago, was exposed on Thursday, a takedown assisted by her estranged parents.
“It’s interesting and it’s complicated,” Marc Lamont Hill, Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College told the Daily News. “This story could allow us to talk about race in a much different way.”
Dolezal’s presentation to society may seem surprising, but this trope is an old one, as seen on TV and in films for decades. Eddie Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and even the Wayans Brothers have all been there and done that.
Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University found the timing interesting. “It’s fascinating; for the last few months we’ve held this gender identity discussion,” he explained. “With Caitlyn Jenner, we’ve had all these object lessons and we realized that the idea of being true to who you are may not be as simple as we thought.”
Dolezal’s careful positioning over the span of a decade was wonderfully believable, fooling members of one of America’s oldest civil rights organizations, an entire university, and hundreds of types along the peregrination from Montana’s rugged terrains. But again, her Oscar-worthy performance has been done before.
James Whitmore portrayed a white reporter by the name of John Finley Horton in 1964’s “Black Like Me.” Horton wanted to experience life as a black man in the Deep South. Similar to the effect of Dolezal’s tanning; he painted himself in black shoe shine and went on his way.
Twenty years later, in 1984, Murphy used an “SNL” sketch aptly titled “White Like Me” as a vehicle to imagine life as a white man in New York City. With comedy he explored the perceived privilege of whites, which resulted in freebies, a no-hassle loan, and an afternoon ho-down on a city bus.
Yet another showcasing of race came with the 1959 film “Imitation of Life.” Young Sarah Jane Johnson (played by Susan Kohner) was the daughter of a poor black widow. In one monumental scene her mother Annie Johnson enters her classroom to bring her a pair of red rain boots. Embarrassed, Sarah Jane sinks into her desk and runs out of the school.
“Those movies reflect the moment we’ve always been in,” Lamont Hill said. “Its design shows that white supremacy has been embedded in society.”
The pendulum swung back around again in 2004 in the Shawn and Marlon Wayans buddy cop film, “White Chicks.” Styled in blonde wavy wigs and tweed Chanel suits, the FBI agents went undercover as Valley Girls to crack a drug case. The glitzy lives of white socialites was portrayed through comedy.
Robert Downey Jr. took a more provocative approach with the 2008 satire film, “Tropic Thunder.” As Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who changed his skin color to play a black army sergeant, he took on the controversial role the only way possible — in blackface. “I’m the dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude,” is one of Downey Jr.’s lines delivered with comic relief.
“There was one dreadful film called ‘Soulman,'” reflected Thompson on the 1986 movie starring C. Thomas Howell. “Here’s a kid who’s passing as black, complete with makeup, hair, and the whole deal to get financial aid.” The film rife with stereotypes, including the perceived ease of affirmative action, offered yet another compelling talking point on race.
Even when they get it wrong, passing and racial stereotypes in film and TV prove to be both educational and also serve as an unpacking method for heavy issues. Still, Thompson suggests it might be a little premature to hold Rachel Dolezal’s identity up to the same standard. “The transracial question is hard to answer,” he said. “It’s tempting to see how we can apply some of those same arguments and ideas to the notion of racial identity, but that can bring forth a whole host of issues.”
