There was a time in this country when blacks were forced to feel ashamed because of the color of their skin. That was pure evil.

But now another race is being pressured to feel ashamed because of the color of their skin. This is equally evil.

Ali Michael, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) Graduate School of Education says,

“There was a time in my 20s when everything I learned about the history of racism made me hate myself, my Whiteness, my ancestors… and my descendants. I remember deciding that I couldn’t have biological children because I didn’t want to propagate my privilege biologically.”

Michael lived with a black family for a time, shaved her head, and only read black authors. During this period she railed against those who dared to be white without shame.

“I disliked my Whiteness, but I disliked the Whiteness of other White people more,” she writes. “I felt like the way to really end racism was to feel guilty for it, and to make other White people feel guilty for it too.”

Michael has softened her position slightly in recent years.  She’s now more at ease with being white, so long as there is adequate guilt.

“At the end of the day, we need White people to see that we are White,” she says. “When we recognize and own our Whiteness, we can account for our own portion, our one 1/billionth of responsibility for what White people have done throughout history. We can work with other White people to begin to challenge bias, ignorance and colorblindness. We can use our privilege to confront the sources of that unfair favoring.”

Americans are still engaged in the heat of discussion concerning the issue of being transgender (sparked by the sexual identity transition of Bruce Jenner into Caitlyn Jenner) as a new debate is forming—that of being transracial. As CNN and other news outlets are reporting:

(CNN) The race of one of the most prominent faces in Spokane, Washingto's black community is under question after her estranged mother claimed she is white but is "being dishonest and deceptive with her identity."
Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] and has identified herself as at least partly African-American. But her Montana birth certificate says she was born to two parents who say they are Caucasian. …

Dolezal is saying little about the allegations, but her birth parents are openly speaking their mind.

"We are her birth parents," Lawrence Dolezal told CNN on Friday. "We do not understand why she feels it's necessary to misrepresent her ethnicity."

Rachel was the Dolezal’s sole biological child, though she grew up with four black siblings who were adopted into the family. She later attended Howard University, a predominantly Black institution. At that point, Rachel was not yet representing herself to be black. Her parents suggested that it was't until around 2007 that she began actually representing herself that way.

Her parents say Rachel "has chosen to distance herself from the family."

"She has not explained to us why she is doing what she is doing and being dishonest ... with her identity," her mother said.

Since 2007, Rachel has represented herself as multi or bi-racial on a number of job applications and resumes.

Reporters from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, who spoke with Rachel directly about why she has chosen to misrepresent her racial identity, said that she wants to talk to local NAACP leadership before answering any questions.

"I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation," she said. "That question is not as easy as it seems," Dolezal told the Spokesman-Review. "There's a lot of complexities ... and I do't know that everyone would understand that."

Meanwhile, CNN reports that the hashtags #racheldolezal and #transracial were trending at the top of the Twitter feed, with many raising the issue and questioning the validity of whether a person could choose to cross racial lines just as many are now choosing to cross sexual lines.

*It should be noted that the NAACP stands by Dolezal, saying her contribution to civil rights and social justice speaks for itself. Her race, they say, is not of primary importance. They made no comment, however, about her obvious issues of honesty and integrity.