I am transracial. Rachel Dolezal is not.

Up until recently, transracial was term that was used for people who were adopted from a certain culture and ethnicity by a family of a different culture and ethnicity. I don't want to give more attention to her name, but I want to make it clear that the use of this term is offensive to people who are truly transracial. 

As a transracial adoptee, we did not get to chose to be transracial. It was something that happened to us. I was adopted from Korea into a caucasian family in America. I didn't chose that. I was raised in a predominantly caucasian community. Again something that I didn't chose. I would call myself an American, because I was. By law I was an American citizen, but I never said anything more specific than that. 

Rachel Dolezal however, was not raised in a family of different ethnicity. She has four siblings that were adopted into her family and they can call themselves transracial and it be politically correct. But for a person who simply identifies better with a different ethnicity, that term is not correct. There are thousands of people who feel more comfortable in ethnic communities that do not match their own ethnicity, HOWEVER they do not call themselves that specific ethnicity. My best friend loves the korean culture, she learned the language near to fluency level, she studied abroad there, BUT she does NOT claim to be Korean. She did NOT make up lies about her family and history. She did NOT change her appearance to match and look korean. 

I understand how it feels to be more comfortable surrounded by another race than your own, but that doesn't mean that you should lie and change your appearance to be a part of that community. I hope that Rachel is able to over come everything that has been thrown at her, I'm sure there are things that are going to come her way and try to break her down more even though it might not be in the public eye, but I also hope that she learns that to be a part of a community, to make a difference in a community, you don't have to change and lie about yourself. You can give support in other ways and still make changes.