美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Rachel Divide' Director Says Dolezal 'Has Remained Resolute'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Three years ago, there was a name that was nearly impossible to get away from - Rachel Dolezal. She was a white woman who passed for black.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RACHEL DOLEZAL: I'm Rachel Dolezal, the president of the NAACP in Spokane, Wash. Malcolm X is my hero.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Are you black?

DOLEZAL: Yes.

CORNISH: But after she was outed as white, the public backlash and fascination¹ was intense. So what happened to Dolezal afterwards?

LAURA BROWNSON: Rachel still doesn't have a job. Rachel still struggles to pay the rent every month. She works braiding hair. That's really the only kind of constant work that she's been able to find.

CORNISH: That's Laura Brownson. She's the filmmaker behind a new documentary on Netflix called "The Rachel Divide." She told me she spent two years filming Dolezal and her family. They've become isolated² inside their small house in Spokane. Normal activities like picking up the kids from school or taking them to the barbershop seem to only invite public hostility³.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE RACHEL DIVIDE")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Would you please move?

DOLEZAL: OK, so where do you want me to park is what I'm asking.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: You can park anywhere you want.

DOLEZAL: I just want to make sure that Franklin can find me when he comes out.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Well, your son ain't lost. Just move from out in front of my shop now.

BROWNSON: It's the phenomenon of becoming a media pariah⁴ and the impact that that has on a family. And there's a collateral⁵ damage and fallout that is very big and very hard to recover from. Her son Franklin, who at the time of filming is about 13 years old, he seems to have the most difficult time with it.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE RACHEL DIVIDE")

FRANKLIN: All my mom did was say that she was black and people start losing their minds. You know, all they say is that she's a liar⁶.

CORNISH: He makes this point, essentially⁷, that a lot of people made over and over again that everything might be solved for her if she stopped claiming to be black. And other critics say this to her face - right? - that essentially, they wouldn't care very much about any of her life if she was honest and had not lied. What was her response to that?

BROWNSON: I think I imagined that Rachel would have a more traditional character arc, that she would move from a place of catastrophe⁸ to something else and that that would in part be due to her growth. I did not get that character arc. She has remained resolute⁹ in her determination and in her perception of her identity.

CORNISH: This gets to the point of her family background, which you dig into, her growing up in Montana, where her parents, who are white - they are the ones who went public about her background. And you talk about her growing up with her adopted siblings¹⁰, who are black and African-American. And then there's, like, a cascade¹¹ of allegations that I want to dig into a little bit. One of which is that Rachel and her sister Esther, her adopted sister, say that her family was abusive to her. Why do you think that this was important to include in this story?

BROWNSON: You know, there's no doubt in my mind that the trauma¹² that Rachel and also her siblings endured during their childhood, which, you know, it was a very religious home. Corporal punishment was very much part of what they all experienced. And Rachel's attachment¹³ to her siblings I really think began her kind of life's journey in terms of disassociation from whiteness and an attachment to blackness.

CORNISH: And I want to be clear here, her parents have denied these claims. And her sister, who is featured in the movie, also says she was sexually abused by Rachel's older biological brother and that Rachel was set to testify against him and this family on the eve of her essentially being revealed. This part of it hasn't been talked about too much.

BROWNSON: No, this part hasn't been talked about too much.

CORNISH: In part because the charges were dismissed, I should say. But it's not something that kind of came out in the conversation with her.

BROWNSON: That's true. That was a detail that for whatever reason really didn't get traction¹⁴ in sort of the media's treatment of Rachel's story. There are some things that are very difficult to get to the bottom of. And, you know, the truth is elusive¹⁵ with Rachel. And so we did allow for the parents to deny it and one of her brothers, Ezra, of course, who also suggests that none of these things happened.

CORNISH: When you finally get down to it, it seems like you reached a point, I don't know if you did this multiple times, but in the film at one point, you basically have to just ask her a series of questions of, like, what's going on here? And why can't you admit to being white?

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE RACHEL DIVIDE")

DOLEZAL: I'm never going to be that 12-year-old-looking 18-year-old white girl in Montana again, wearing Amish dresses. I can't live in that particular mode again. Like, I'm not going to subject myself to the punishment of my parents all over again.

CORNISH: So this is where all of the conversation about racial identity kind of falls away - right? - and you have a person admitting to something a little more personal.

BROWNSON: You know, there came a time in our filming where it was quite apparent to me that I needed to give Rachel one last opportunity to say something different.

CORNISH: 'Cause she wasn't going to do it. I mean, it's like over and over again, watching the film, like, she is steadfast¹⁶ in this.

BROWNSON: She is steadfast in this. But in that interview, she admitted that she can't go back to whiteness. If she were to go back to whiteness, it would be letting her parents win. And I think it really is a real key to Rachel and her and her character.

CORNISH: For you, what did you see when you first looked at Rachel and how has that changed?

BROWNSON: I think that I was able to be a little bit of a blank slate¹⁷.

CORNISH: Really, you and no one else in America?

BROWNSON: Well, that's the filmmaker in me. You know, I think that I had this notion of this is a human being, who I would really like to unpack¹⁸, but she's infuriating a huge portion of our population. And I want to unpack that as well.

CORNISH: Was there anything that you came to think about being a white woman, right? Like, the ideas that she was rejecting or kind of her arguments about these things?

BROWNSON: Certainly as a white woman, watching someone who was born biologically white, to watch her and understand or try to understand how she would give up all the privilege of whiteness and all of the things that, you know, come along with being white in our society, it was a fascinating thing for me to dig into from my own point of view.

CORNISH: 'Cause essentially, when people make arguments about what it is she's doing, they end up in a way talking about you, right? Like, when people are talking about, well, there's this privilege that you're embracing or not or I just thought that might have been a weird¹⁹ kind of moment for you.

BROWNSON: For sure. I mean, I think that the argument that this is the ultimate act of white privilege certainly makes me think more deeply about all of that, all of our privilege.

CORNISH: All of our meaning...

BROWNSON: White people's privilege. The idea that a person can even consider changing their race and come up with the idea of changing their race is an act, in many people's opinion, of ultimate privilege.

CORNISH: How did Rachel Dolezal receive the film? Has she seen it, and what has she told you?

BROWNSON: It was a difficult thing for her to see. The film is quite critical, and she doesn't like to be criticized and ultimately, though, because her kids really come off as the shining stars and the moral compasses of the film, that softened²⁰ Rachel a bit. And there's some pride in knowing that her kids, at least, come off looking well.

CORNISH: Laura Brownson, her new documentary is called "The Rachel Divide," streaming on Netflix. Thank you for speaking with ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

BROWNSON: Thank you so much.

1 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

4 pariah   

n.被社会抛弃者

参考例句：

• Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.不一会儿，汤姆碰上了村里的少年弃儿。
• His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal,a pariah.房东太太对待他就像对待危险的罪犯、对待社会弃儿一样。

5 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

6 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

9 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。

10 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

11 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

12 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

13 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

14 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

15 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

16 steadfast   

adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的

参考例句：

• Her steadfast belief never left her for one moment.她坚定的信仰从未动摇过。
• He succeeded in his studies by dint of steadfast application.由于坚持不懈的努力他获得了学业上的成功。

17 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

18 unpack   

vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货

参考例句：

• I must unpack before dinner.我得在饭前把行李打开。
• She said she would unpack the items later.她说以后再把箱子里的东西拿出来。

19 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

20 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。