In the first clip from Netflix‘s upcoming “The Rachel Divide” documentary Rachel Dolezal‘s son begs her to “just let it go away.” He’s referring, of course, to the time his mother made national news back in 2015 when it was discovered that Dolezal, the ostensibly black leader of NAACP’s Spokane, Washington branch, was in fact Caucasian. For years, Dolezal had been mischaracterizing herself as “black” so as to further her career as an NAACP activist. When the story of her whiteness broke, Dolezal became a national laughingstock overnight. She was mocked relentlessly on TV, in the press, and on social media.
And instead of letting the story die like the ridiculous human-interest story that it is, Dolezal has kept the flame of her own infamy alive all the way to 2018. Rather than simply apologize and fade out into obscurity, Dolezal gave interviews about “transracialism,” which she compares to transgenderism; put herself at the mercy of Ijeoma Oluo for a psychologically probing profile; and wrote a book with the hilarious title of “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.”
As if that weren’t enough, Dolezal has now subjected her family to public scrutiny by way of Netflix. “The Rachel Divide,” a new Netflix-original documentary from filmmaker Laura Brownson, is described by the streaming service as a “vérité life story of a damaged character who lands squarely in the cross-hairs of race and identity politics in America — and exploring how that character still provokes negative reactions from millions who see her as the ultimate example of white privilege.” It is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in just a few weeks’ time.
In the Netflix-released teaser clip, Dolezal’s beleaguered son begs her to let the story die. She refuses, insisting that “when something gets destroyed, you have to rebuild it. You can’t just pretend that it didn’t happen.” He tells her, quite rightly, that her actions affect “more than just her life.” Her rebuke is shocking, saddening, and a bit horrifying: “If somebody has hope, don’t take that away from them because maybe that’s all they have.”
In a later talking-head, Dolezal’s visibly drained son surmises that “this book coming out, and this documentary, might just backfire like everything else has backfired.” Yeah, no shit.
“The Rachel Divide” hits Netflix on April 27th.