Rachel Dolezal Ethos Pathos Logos

Rachel Dolezal has “sparked a national conversation” over the past few months because she has “claimed for years to be a product of black heritage.” When this became a viral situation, Dolezal denied the fact that she was not born black. Rachel Dolezal was born white, and her biologically immediate family is white. Blow makes a point that by her claiming to be black, she has a “choice and a trap door.” She has a choice of whether or not to be identified as black, and at the end of the day she is white. Dolezal’s adopted brother believes that she is participating in “blackface” which is an example of mockery of black people. “Dolezal’s performance of blackness…based on a lie…” According to Blow, the situation is not solely about appropriation or pretending to be someone you are not. This situation is “about privilege, deceitful performance and a tortured attempt to avoid truth and confession…”
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Morally, is she wrong for what she did?
• Pathos: “Dolezal’s performance of blackness may have been born of affinity, but it was based on a lie…” This appeals to pathos by triggering a sense of anger among people in the black community and others who think she is in the wrong.
• Logos: “Kimberly McKee, the assistant director of the Korean-American Adoptee Adoptive Parent Network and a professor at Grand Valley State University where she studies transracial adoption, told The Post, ‘You’re turning something that is a historical experience into something that’s almost being made a joke.’” This appeals to logos because the person who said this is a college professor who studies something in the same field as this particular topic.