The Rachel Dolezal
Rachel Dolezal ain’t got shit on my great grand ma, y’all — for realz!
1901, at the age of 19 (which could explain a lot of it!), my great granma, Fannie Russell, said fuck it to White privilege and married Walter Hendricks—a Black man—in South Carolina. It was illegal AF. South Carolina was the first state to pass an anti-miscegenation law. It was almost a Federal offense, talking about “Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. “ That ain’t fly, but most states went ahead and jumped on the band wagon, making mixed marriage illegal.
Grandma Fanny came from a slaveholding family. Her grandma, Lucinda, inherited a “negro girl” named Emily, so, I‘m shook to figure how two generations later, Fanny turned around and married a Black guy. What her family have to say about it? How great-grandpa Walter not get lynched?! What Justice of the Peace would have done the ceremony? Lucky for me, I was able to find the marriage paper, if you call that shit luck.
It looks to be the right couple. Same parents for each of them. The ages listed matched they dates of birth. Then I saw Fannie’s race was on there as “col” (Colored). I was like “Wait a second!” I checked and both Fanny’s folks show up on the census as White. Fannie had lied? She also put down both parents as “deceased.” In 1901 her parents were alive there death and burial records and all.
Is my Granma Fanny a Rachel Dolezal? Then you had people like former NAACP chair Walter White who was White as a sheet, but lived as a Black person. I’m like “Damn!” People been choosing Blackness, against their own comfort and privilege for as long as these bullshit ass categories have existed. Why’s it so important to cling on these categories now? Maybe the lesson that got everybody shook is that race only has the power we give it—we’re comfortable with racial boxes.
I’m starting to see through this fog as I realize more and more I ain’t who I thought I was. I’m sure a few people got they finger on the cancel button. I’m poised and ready. Come for my grandma, though and we gonna fight!
