adolph reed piece

8/16/2019 Adolph Reed Piece

1/6

Published on Monday, June 15, 2015 by Common Dreams

From Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other

Not So MuchBy Adolph Reed, Jr.

By far the most intellectually and politically interesting thing about the recent "exposé" of Spokane, A, !AA# acti$ist Rachel %ole&al's racial status is the conundrum it has posed for racial identitarians (ho are

also committed to defense of transgender identity. )he comparisons bet(een %ole&al and Republican Jenner

*+'$e decided to opt for that referent because it is an identity continuous bet(een "Bruce" and "aitlyn" and is

moreo$er the one most meaningful to me began almost instantly, particularly as a flood of mass-mediated

Racial oices (ho support the legitimacy of transgender identity ob/ected strenuously to suggestions that%ole&al's representation, and apparent perception, of herself as black is similar to Bruce Jenner's perception of

himself as actually aitlyn. )heir contention is that one kind of claim to an identity at odds (ith culturallyconstructed understandings of the identity appropriate to one's biology is okay but that the other is not 0 that it's

12 to feel like a (oman (hen you don't ha$e the body of a (oman and to act like *and e$en get yourself the

body of a (oman but that it's (rong to feel like a black person (hen you're actually (hite and that acting likeyou're black and doing your best to get yourself the body of a black person is /ust lying.

)he (ay 3eba Blay puts it, on the Black oices section of the HuffPo, is by declaring ho( important it is to"make one thing clear4 transracial identity is not a thing." hat is clear is that it's not at all clear (hat that

statement is supposed to mean. +t seems to suggest that transracial identity is not something that has been


2/6

$alidated by public recognition, or at least that Blay has not heard of or does not recogni&e it. But there's an

ob$ious problem (ith this contention. )here (as a moment, not that long ago actually, (hen transgenderidentity (as not a "thing" in that sense either. +s Blay's contention that (e should accept transgender identity

only because it is no( publicly recogni&ed5 +f so, the circularity is ob$ious, and the lack of acceptance arguably

only a matter of time. )ransgender (asn't al(ays a thing 0 /ust ask hristine Jorgensen.

But the more serious charge is the moral one, that, as 6ichelle 7arcia puts it, "+t's pretty clear4 %ole&al has

lied." But here too, it's not clear (hat's so clear. +s the point supposed to be that %ole&al is lying (hen she says

she identifies as black5 1r is it that being black has nothing to do (ith ho( you identify5 )he problem (ith thefirst claim is ob$ious 0 ho( do they kno(5 And on (hat grounds does Jenner get to be telling the truth and

%ole&al not5 But the problem (ith the second claim is e$en more ob$ious since if you think there's some

biological fact of the matter about (hat race people actually belong to utterly independent of (hat race theythink they belong to, you're committed to a $ie( of racial difference as biologically definiti$e in a (ay that's

e$en deeper than sexual difference.

Blay attempts to deal (ith these issues by 8uoting %arnell 9. 6oore of Mic.com's analysis that "+n attempting

to pass as black, %ole&al falsely represented her identity. )rans people don:t lie about their gender identities ;

they express their gender according to categories that reflect (ho they are." )his claim has recurred in $ariousformulations. 6eredith )alusan asserts it most emphatically in The Guardian4

)he fundamental difference bet(een %ole&al's actions and trans people's is that her decision to identify as black

(as an acti$e choice, (hereas transgender people's decision to transition is almost al(ays in$oluntary.)ransitioning is the product of a fundamental aspect of our humanity 0 gender 0 being foisted upon us o$er and

o$er again from the time of our birth in a manner inconsistent (ith our o(n experience of our genders. %octors

don't announce our race or color (hen (e are born< they announce our gender. #eople (ho are alienated fromtheir presumed gender and define themsel$es according to another gender ha$e existed since earliest recorded

history< race is a medie$al =uropean in$ention. )hus, %ole&al identified as black, but + am a (oman, and other

trans people are the gender they feel themsel$es to be.

)his assessment is mind-bogglingly (rong-headed, but it is at the same time thus deeply re$ealing of the

contradictoriness and irrationality that undergird so much self-righteous identitarian t(addle. >irst of all, as +'$ealready suggested, the claim that %ole&al's identity is false and transgendered people's are true immediately

pro$okes a "ho says5" hat makes )alusan's and other transgender people's identities authentic is that they

belie$e them to be authentic. e agree to accept transgender people's expression of belief in their authenticity.

+t's fine for )alusan or others to say that they are con$inced that the identities they embrace are their real ones insome (ay that is not limited by their biology at birth. ?o(e$er, the logic of the pluralism and open-endedness

of identity they assert (ould re8uire that they also accept the self-reports of claims to authenticity regarding

identities that may di$erge in other (ays from con$ention. ertainly, not doing so necessitates some /ustification more persuasi$e;and less Archie Bunkerish;than simply asserting "6ine is genuine, theirs is

not." )he $oluntary@in$oluntary criterion isn't e$en sophistry< it's /ust bullshit. 1nce again, (ho says5 ho

ga$e )alusan, 6oore, Blay and others the gifts of telepathic mindreading and $entrilo8uy5 ?o( do (e kno(

that %ole&al may not sense that she is "really" black in the same, in$oluntary (ay that many transgender peoplefeel that they are "really" transgender5

)he related complaint that %ole&al's self-representation is inauthentic because she "lied" about her identity ise8ually fatuous. )o stay (ithin the identitarian paradigm, (hat did Republican Jenner do for more than six

decades of operating as Bruce5 hat does any transgender person do before the moment of coming out5

6ichelle 7arcia, also at Mic.com, asks, imagining that her 8uestion is a trump, "+f aitlyn Jenner can identify as

a (oman, (hy can't Rachel %ole&al say that she's black5" But (hy should that be the definiti$e criterion for

accepting the self-representation5 ho made that rule5 ould there be something about public expectations atthis point regarding the fixity of racial boundaries that (ould stay %ole&al from taking the bold step of


3/6

announcing that she had al(ays "kno(n" herself to be black5 )he furor that has surrounded the "exposé" (ould

suggest that is the case. ould she ha$e felt free to do so if public a(areness already accepted the possibility ofracial identity as not necessarily tied to official classification5 + ha$e no idea (hether she (ould ha$e, and

7arcia doesn't either. And, again, (hat about the C years before Republican Jenner emerged publicly as

aitlyn5 as his pri$ately embraced identity as aitlyn bogus for all those years because he didn't, or felt hecouldn't, go public (ith it5

)his brings me to the most important point that this affair thro(s into relief. +t has outed the essentialism on

(hich those identitarian discourses rest. 7arcia asks "So (hy don't (e /ust accept %ole&al as black5 Becauseshe's not." But (hy is she not black in 7arcia's $ie(5 ell, "?er parents say she's not e$en close to being

black." But (hat (ould that mean ; that she has no kno(n black ancestry5 +s blackness, then, a matter of

hypodescent after all5 But, if that's (hat it is, then (hat politically significant meaning does the category ha$e5%ole&al no doubt has her issues and idiosyncrasies, but, especially if the /udgment of the !AA# counts for

anything in the matter, +'m pretty sure +'d take her in a trade for larence )homas, ory Booker, ondi Rice,

and fi$e )>A pimps to be named later. 1r (ould %ole&al's "not e$en close to being black" mean that she (asraised outside of "authentic" black idiom or cultural experience5 But (hose black idiom or cultural experience

(ould that be5 +s there really an irreducible, definiti$e one5 +f so, on (hich Racial oice blog or +$y 9eague

campus might (e find it5

)he essentialism cuts in odd (ays in this saga. Sometimes race is real in a (ay that sex is not 0 you're blackonly if you meet the biological criteria *(hate$er they're supposed to be for blackness. And sometimes, as in

)alusan's failure to distinguish gender from sex typing, gender is "real" in a (ay that race is not. "%octors don'tannounce our race or color (hen (e are born< they announce our gender." + assume )alusan is referring to the

stereotypical moment in the deli$ery room. )echnically, though, the doctor announces the child's sex type, not

its culturally constructed gender roles. And (hen exactly does )alusan presume race is determined and by(hom5 +'m pretty sure that in most of the Dnited States it's still marked on one's birth certificate. )hat's not the

deli$ery room, but it's pretty damn close.

)alusan's confusion of sex and gender is startlingly naE$e. She contends that gender is a "product of a

fundamental aspect of our humanity" and that, unlike race, the medie$al =uropean in$ention, gender is a

"fundamental attribute" of our existence. But gender is no less culturally constructed than race. +f )alusan (erea little more curious anthropologically than precocious, she might ha$e noticed that the relation bet(een sex

type and gender roles has $aried (ildly o$er the history and range of our species. But she, like Jenner, ?ugh

?efner, and legions of anti-feminists, among others, naturali&es gender as melded into sex type4 ")rans people

transition in order to be the gender (e feel inside." >or those to (hom it seems odd or tendentious to link thenaturali&ing discourses of some transgender acti$ists and hoary anti-feminism, + recommend =linor Burkett's

fine rumination on the issue in the June e! "or# Times, titled "hat 6akes a oman5".

)here is a guild-protecti$e agenda underlying racial identitarians' outrage about %ole&al that is also 8uite

re$ealing. !ikki 9ynette, (riting at $ed %ye exhorts "%on't ompare !AA#'s Rachel %ole&al to aitlyn

Jenner." hy5 Because, she contends, %ole&al benefited materially from her self-representation as black.

#utting aside for the moment Republican Jenner's orchestrated payday surrounding announcement and displayof transition, this is an unusual charge, one that is counterintuiti$e in relation to se$eral generations of black

American humor and also smacks a bit of right-(ingers' insinuations about (hites taking ad$antage of

affirmati$e action. !e$ertheless, like 3eba Blay and others, 9ynette rehearses a charge that %ole&al recei$ed afull scholarship to the ?o(ard Dni$ersity 6>A program on the pretext that she (as a black (oman. )hat

charge is false< not only (as she not admitted as black person *?o(ard's applications apparently didn't re8uire

racial identification< reports from faculty and students (hen she (as there confirmed that she (as notunderstood to be black (hen she (as enrolled at the uni$ersity. See ?illary rosley oker, Fhen Rachel

%ole&al Attended ?o(ard, She as hite,G at Je&ebel . )he charge is (hat those making it (ant to be true< they

assume it's true because they understand black racial classification as a form of capital.


4/6

Blay expresses this position most clearly. She ob/ects that %ole&al "occupied positions of po(er specifically

designated for members of a marginali&ed group." Blay is referring, in addition to the false accusation about thecircumstances of %ole&al's matriculation at ?o(ard, to her ha$ing belonged, (hile an undergraduate at

Bellha$en ollege, to "a racial reconciliation community de$elopment pro/ect (here blacks and (hites li$ed

together." Blay presents membership in that group as though it (ere precursor to her ha$ing duped ?o(ard outof a fello(ship that should ha$e gone to a black (oman. )o Blay this pattern of duplicity culminated in

%ole&al's "e$entually (orking her (ay up to president of the Spokane !AA# in HI." *Some ha$e included a

charge that %ole&al used racial misrepresentation to ad$ance an academic career< an occasional stint as an

ad/unct instructor, ho(e$er, doesn't s8uare (ith the +ggy A&alea imagery that seems to propel this claim. +tcertainly (ould be a skimpy re(ard for such prodigious self-fashioning. +n Blay's narro( political uni$erse,

the !AA# branch presidency is an honorific to be a(arded on the basis of ascripti$e categories like race and

gender, not the result of effecti$e (ork on behalf of the Association's mission and goals. +t is especially strikingin this regard that a number of those exercised by %ole&al ha$e at least implicitly called for the !AA# to

renounce its support of her. )heir commitment to arbitrary notions of racial propriety should o$erride the

Association's sense of its o(n concrete priorities in the actual struggle for ci$il rights and social /ustice.

hen all is said and done, the racial outrage is about protection of the boundaries of racial authenticity as the

exclusi$e property of the guild of Racial Spokespersonship. *Blay also, (ith no hint of self-consciousness,complains that %ole&al's deception has "hi/acked the con$ersation about race, during a (eek (here the nation

(as focusing on police brutality in 6c2inney, )exas." !ot only is that insipid "con$ersation about race" chatterthe e8ui$alent of fingernails on a chalkboard. +t seems that Blay hasn't discerned that the %ole&al issue has

captured such attention only because it rankles the sensibilities of those (ho essentiali&e race and that no one ismaking her talk about it but herself.

Beneath all the puerile cultural studies prattle about "cultural appropriation" 0 (hich can only occur if "culture"is essentiali&ed as the property of (hat is in effect a "race" Ksee alter Benn 6ichaels, "Race +nto ulture4 A

ritical 7enealogy of ultural +dentity," ritical +n8uiry IL *Summer IMMH4 NN-LNO 0 "same heritage and

social struggles" *+ doubt that !ikki 9ynette (as at 7reensboro on >ebruary I, IM, >t. agner on July IL,ILP, 9ittle Rock in September, IMNQ, olfax, 9ouisiana on April IP, ILQP, the IML 6emphis sanitation

(orkers' strike, either of the Amenia conferences, or 6inton's #layhouse any time in the IMs, and 1r(ellian

chatter about pri$ilege and "dispri$ilege," the magical po(er of "(hiteness," etc. lies yet another iteration in(hat literature scholar 2enneth arren has identified in his masterful HIH study, 'ha( 'as )frican )merican *i(era(ure+, as a more than century-old class program among elements of the black professional-managerial

stratum to establish Fmanagerial authority o$er the nation's !egro problem.G

)hat is to say, as is e$er clearer and e$er more important to note, race politics is not an alternati$e to class

politics< it is a class politics, the politics of the left-(ing of neoliberalism. +t is the expression and acti$e agency

of a political order and moral economy in (hich capitalist market forces are treated as unassailable nature. Anintegral element of that moral economy is displacement of the criti8ue of the in$idious outcomes produced by

capitalist class po(er onto e8ually naturali&ed categories of ascripti$e identity that sort us into groups

supposedly defined by (hat (e essentially are rather than (hat (e do. As + ha$e argued, follo(ing alter

6ichaels and others, (ithin that moral economy a society in (hich I of the population controlled M of theresources could be /ust, pro$ided that roughly IH of the I (ere black, IH (ere 9atino, N (ere (omen,

and (hate$er the appropriate proportions (ere 97B) people. +t (ould be tough to imagine a normati$e ideal

that expresses more unambiguously the social position of people (ho consider themsel$es candidates forinclusion in, or at least significant staff positions in ser$ice to, the ruling class.

)his perspecti$e may help explain (hy, the more aggressi$ely and openly capitalist class po(er destroys andmarketi&es e$ery shred of social protection (orking people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations ha$e

fought for and (on o$er the last century, the louder and more insistent are the demands from the identitarian left

that (e focus our attention on statistical disparities and episodic outrages that "pro$e" that the crucial in/usticesin the society should be understood in the language of ascripti$e identity. )he %ole&al@Jenner contretemps


5/6

stoked the protectionist reflexes of identitarian spokesperson guilds because it troubles current /urisdictional

boundaries. =$en before that, ho(e$er, some racial identitarians had gro(n bolder in laying bare the blur ofcareerism and arbitrary, self-ser$ing moralism at the base of this supposed politics. +n an unintentionally farcical

homage to Black #o(er era radicalism, $arious racial $entrilo8uists claiming to channel the oices of the outh

leadership of the putati$e Black 9i$es 6atter "mo$ement" ha$e lately been arguing that the key condition for aleft alliance is that (e all must "respect black leadership." 1f course, that amounts to a claim to shut up and take

(hate$er anyone (ho claims that status says or does. )hose of us old enough to remember Black #o(er and the

ar on #o$erty also (ill look around to see (hich funders or employers they're addressing.

And, in apparent contradiction of the ontological principle of group authenticity on (hich the paradigm rests,

reprise of the ta(driest features of Black #o(er hustling isn't a$ailable only to officially recogni&ed people of

color. Joan alsh, apparently ha$ing learned the strictures of "(hite allyship" from being chastened by rimain(er ares bourgeois identitarian 6elissa ?arris-#erry, recently sho(ed the depths of crude opportunism this

discourse enables (hen she race-baited Bernie Sanders as an instrument of her effort to pimp for ?illary linton

*see her "hite #rogressi$es' Racial 6yopia4 hy )heir olorblindness >ails 6inorities 0 And the 9eft". >oralsh, it seems, black people don't count among the millions (ho (ould be helped by Sanders's social-

democratic agenda, but linton, presumably, (ould sho( proper respect by hooking them up (ith a

TBlackli$esmatter >acebook like.

+'ll conclude by returning to the %ole&al@Jenner issue. + can imagine an identitarian response to my argument tothe effect that + endorse some $ersion of (iggerism, or the $ie( that "feeling black" can make one genuinely

black. )he fact is that + think that formulation is (rong-headed either (ay one lines up on it. =ach position 0that one can feel or (ill one's (ay into an ascripti$e identity or that one can't 0 presumes that the "identity" is a

thing (ith real boundaries. )he issue of the line that %ole&al, (ho has no( resigned her !AA# position,

crossed that made her alleged self-representation unacceptable is interesting in this regard only because ithighlights contradictions at the core of racial essentialism. +n addition to the problems of articulating (hat

confers racial authenticity, if (hat (e ha$e read about her approach to expressing black racial identity is

accurate, she seems to ha$e embraced an essentialist $ersion of being black no less than do her outraged critics.iggers do so as (ell, and (e must admit that %ole&al's performance and apparent embrace of culturally

recogni&ed representations of black (omanhood rests on an aesthetic purporting to embody respect and

celebration rather than the demeaning racialist fantasies that shape the commercial personae of the likes of +ggyA&alea. 6oreo$er, e$en if %ole&al may suffer from something like racial dysmorphia, the expression of her

fixation has been tied up (ith commitment to struggle for social /ustice. She may ha$e other personal problems

and strained or bad relations (ith family members, but those are matters that concern her and those (ith (hom

she interacts. )hey do not automatically impeach the authenticity of her feelings of (ho she "really" is. And +doubt that (e'd (ant to start a scorecard comparing her and Republican Jenner on that front.

)hat points to the other (ay that this affair has exposed identitarianism's irrational underbelly. )he fundamentalcontradiction that has impelled the debate and re8uired the flight into often idiotic sophistry is that racial

identitarians assume, e$en if they gi$e catechistic lip ser$ice 0 a re8uirement of being taken seriously outside

harles 6urray's (orld 0 to the catchphrase that "race is a social construction," that race is a thing, an essence

that li$es (ithin us. +f pushed, they (ill offer any of a range of more or less mystical, formulaic, bree&y, or neo-9amarckian faux explanations of ho( it can be both an essential ground of our being and a social construct, and

most people are (illing not to pay close attention to the /ustificatory patter. !e$ertheless, for identitarians, to

paraphrase 6ichaels, (e aren't, for instance, black because (e do black things< that seems to ha$e been%ole&al's mistaken (ish. e do black things because (e are black. %oing black things does not make us black<

being black makes us do black things. )hat is ho( it's possible to talk about ha$ing lost or needing to retrie$e

one's culture or define "cultural appropriation" as the e8ui$alent, if not the prosaic reality, of a property crime.)hat, indeed, is also the essence of essentialism.

)he problem the Jenner comparison poses is that, if identity is inherent in us in (ays that are beyond our$olition, ho( can (e legitimi&e transgender identity;(hich is gender identity that does not conform (ith that


6/6

adolph reed piece

Documents