Dolezal: Adoption or Assimilation?

The news about Rachel Dolezal was, and continues to be, a confusing story for me to wrap my head around. In terms of brand management, I suppose she did a good job of carefully constructing an image of herself that she wanted as her public profile. In that sense, she was successful in identifying the aspects of a character she wanted other people to see and acting in a way that supported that information. The problem is that it was a character, and an act that comes dangerously close to blackface. Essentially false advertisement, her claims of being a black woman extends far beyond her hairstyles and her choice of university, and stems from a need for her to be someone she truly is not. For a white woman to portray herself as black, especially in a time in America when prejudice against black and brown bodies is making news almost every day, trivializes and demeans other authentic experiences. As she was a professor of African-American Studies and president of an NAACP chapter, I can only assume her actions were, in fact, made with good intentions. However, there is a very important distinction between having a strong appreciation of a culture and actually assimilating oneself into its midst.