Comedian Dave Chappelle Says Blacks Should Keep Former NAACP Leader Rachel Dolezal
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Comedian Dave Chappelle is not going to be joking about Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP leader who stepped down from her post as president of the Spokane, Washington chapter. She is accused of misrepresenting herself as a black woman when, in fact, she is white.
Chappelle was giving a high school graduation commencement address at his alma mater in Spokane Sunday, and was asked about Dolezal, who was 'outed' by her white parents.
The comedian said that blacks should go ahead and 'draft' Dolezal.
Chapelle has never shied away from racial controversy. He was referring to a segment on his television show in which a panel of judges conducted a racial draft. Tiger Woods was drafted by the white panel. The black panel was all too happy to give him away.
According to the Washington Post, Chapelle said blacks should keep Donezal.
He told the graduating class at Duke Ellington High School that its up to artists to help contextualize the world.
"The world's become ridiculous. There's a white lady posing as a black lady. There is not one thing that woman accomplished she couldn't have done as a white woman. There's no reason! She just needed the braids. I don't know what she was doing."
Later, Chapelle elaborated, saying the press doesn't realize that race is a social construct.
"The media's gotta be real careful," said Chappelle. "What they're overlooking is the emotional content of what she means. There's something very nuanced where she's highlighting the difference between personal feeling, and what's a construct as far as race is concerned. I don't know what her agenda is, but there's an emotional content for black people when they see her, and white people when they see her."
Chappelle sounded sympathetic to Dolezal's predicament. He said he expects she'll provide fodder for a lot of comedians' jokes, but he won't be jumping on the bandwagon.
"I'm sure her rebuttal will be illuminating... like once she's had time to process it and kind of get her wind back and get her message together."
Monday, Dolezal formally resigned from her position at the NAACP.
In a post on Facebook she wrote, 'In the eye of this current storm, I can see that a separation of family and organizational outcomes is in the best interest of the NAACP.'
Dolezal was married to an African-American, and was raised with 4 adopted African-American siblings. She is also a professor of Africana Studies at a university in Washington.
