Erik Rush: Dolezal Story Underscores Reality of 'Black Privilege'

I’ll preface with the obligatory qualifier that former Spokane NAACP President Rachel Dolezal’s action in representing herself as black in the capacity of an NAACP official when she is in fact white was profoundly unethical. Whether she truly perceives herself to be black, or sought some obscure advantage in publicly self-identifying as black, there is obviously some sort of psychopathology at work.

Rachel Dolezal would certainly not be the first, however, to impersonate a black person in order to exploit institutional advantages open to blacks in certain sectors. Writing for the New York Post in April, Vijay Chokal-Ingam (brother of “The Mindy Project” actress Mindy Kaling) chronicles how he pretended to be black to get into medical school over 15 years ago, when many schools’ admissions quotas favored blacks over Asians and whites.

#affirmativeaction is DISCRIMINATION; it's a lie to call it else. I got into medical school with a 3.1 GPA as black. http://t.co/wya52LWz7u

— Vijay Chokal-Ingam (@VijayIngam) March 5, 2015

In fact, many individuals have impersonated blacks over the last 35 years or so to exploit certain benefits. Some were exposed, and I’d wager the reason these did not make major headlines is because there are those who didn’t want the exclusive institutional benefits open to blacks to engender resentment among whites – or to appear quite so alluring to the unscrupulous.

When my book “Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal – America’s Racial Obsession” was published, there were some who didn’t quite get the subtitle. How did blacks occupy any sort of pedestal?

Others picked up on it right away. While there’s nothing enviable in being manipulated and exploited by the left, it is evident that culturally, black Americans have come to a place of inordinate esteem. The stereotype is a sword that cuts both ways, and in the case of blacks, it has helped to advance many positive perceptions around them.

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