Netflix' Rachel Dolezal documentary looks positively painful

[demmiblue]

Source: USA Today

Like it or not, a Rachel Dolezal documentary is coming to a small screen near you.

The Rachel Divide, which premieres on Netflix April 27, is an in-depth look at the former leader of the NAACP's Spokane branch, who became a national news story when she was exposed for faking her black ancestry and identifying as "trans-black."

Netflix released the first clip from The Rachel Divide this week, and if the two minutes of footage is any indication, it's going to be a difficult watch. In the clip, Dolezal haggles with her son Franklin about her reasons for doing the documentary and staying in the spotlight..

"Why didn't you just let it go away?" he asks, as she attempts an answer about redeeming herself in the public eye. "This is gonna affect more than just your life."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2018/03/08/netflix-rachel-dolezal-documentary-looks-positively-painful/406199002/

[Lee-Lee]

1. That is the question- why doesnt she just go away

Her idiocy is doing much not to just harm progress on racial issues, but her nonsense claim to be “trans-racial” is mocking and dismissive of the transgender community and their genuine and real struggles.

[d_r]

3. another documentary explains it

[ck4829]

2. Her way to do it was wrong, but race is a social construct and the idea of trans-race should...

be encouraged, just not in the way she went about doing it.

We're here with Trump and debating white supremacy in our government today because we see race being treated as an ascribed status when really there's nothing about race that one is born with but white conservatives treating being born white as some sort of grand accomplishment at the same time. We need to break free from this contradiction.

[Ilsa]

4. We have netflix. Won't be watching. nt

[ecstatic]

5. Interesting.

Honestly, I don't have any negative feelings towards her and I don't know anyone who does. Twitter outrage doesn't always reflect real people and real life. In this case, I think some of the anger is misplaced. That being said, I'm aware of some potentially unethical / self serving actions she may have taken, and that's a separate issue. I'll add the documentary to my watchlist--that's if I remember any of this 6 weeks from now.

[aikoaiko]

6. I was going to make some snarky jokes, but watching her son speak in the trailer is painful

If I watch it, I'll be watching it and speaking about it respectfully because of her son who appears to be genuinely suffering as he is caught between his love for his mother and not agreeing with her choices.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Well said.

[aikoaiko]

8. I watched this documentary, The Rachel Divide, tonight. (spoliers of sorts)

It's worth watching, IMO.

The documentary does its job of telling a story about Dolezal that almost makes sense of her life which I found very puzzling when the story broke on her.

The short story:
Rachel came from an abusive family with biological white parents.
The parents were physically abusive.
The eldest son was sexually abusive.
The family adopted black children who were abused.
When those black child got older, they rebelled against the abuse.
Rachel identified with the adopted black children and sided with them.
It appears she began identifying with being black around that time.
She tried to help hold her white parents accountable for their abuse of their black children.
In a way, she was still trying to hold white people accountable for their abuse of black people through he NAACP activism.

Rachel still seems in denial about why so many people don't accept her self-declared black identity.
When reporters ask her about why she was deceptive about her identity she often replies by asking what they mean by that.
She comes off as needing the black identity to escape her abusive family.
At one point, she says she can't go back to the cute blonde 12-year old wearing an Amish dress-- that she can't go back to her parents' punishment.

The saddest part of the story is how her behavior impacts her Black sons.
The eldest son wants to attend Howard U. but when Rachel posts about her son visiting the school there is a social media backlash. He ends up leaving the country to escape.
The next oldest (high school age) is shunned at school and hates that his mother keeps trying to convince people she is legit because it always backfires. I feel the most for him because he really loves his mother, but just wants her to stop talking publically.
And she gives birth to another child during the filming of the documentary. Who knows what that kid will endure?

In the end, she changes her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo.

The documentary shows many black women confronting Rachel about how she is appropriating black identity and black suffering when she can't/shouldn't claim either.