Rachel Dolezal Supports British Influencer’s Transracial Choices
Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who has infamously identified herself as Black has no problem with British influencer Oli London’s decision to identify as BTS’ Jimin/Korean.
On TMZ Live, Dolezal was asked how she felt about London being “trapped in a white man’s body when they really identified as Korean.” After undergoing 18 surgeries to achieve racial transitional results, the influencer came out as non-binary — further explaining their pronouns to be “they/them/Korean/Jimin.”
With a very similar claim, 43-year-old Dolezal claimed she identified as Black since she was five years old, the gossip site reported. The exiled former NAACP leader claimed she never doctored her appearance in order to pass as African-American.
“I don’t know Jimin personally obviously, so they can speak for themselves in that regard,” Rachel said. “I do think the broader issue here is compassion and kindness. Personal identity is not the big fish to fry when it comes to somebody’s personal choices or how they feel, I think that we need to focus on fighting the public outrage issues of police brutality of de-institutionalizing racism — those are the issues that I think we need to come together on to fight publicly.”
“Cultural appropriation is very different from just being authentically yourself,” she continued. “My message is to be you and do what feeds your soul and makes you feel at home and at peace and that you know who you are and don’t afford anyone else the right to tell you who you are.”
You can watch the video below:
Oli, aka Jimin, said they faced hateful comments from people telling them to commit suicide and threats to be gunned down. Interestingly enough, the influencer claims most of the attacks are coming from “extreme radical left” white people, while Republicans and people struggling with identity issues have been largely supportive (he didn’t cite specific examples from either ideological side, however).
