Lisa Simone to Rachel Dolezal

Dear Ms. Dolezal,

My mom, Nina Simone, dedicated her talent, artistic genius, and political energy to her fellow Black people and their resistance during the Civil Rights era. She saw many friends and leaders die at the hands of police and through government-sanctioned violence. She witnessed discrimination firsthand, with her family in the Jim Crow south and then herself as a student, woman, and musical performer. She suffered sustained domestic violence in her marriage and was forced to endure a taxing schedule of performances while grappling with mental health challenges. Despite these barriers, she was never afraid to use her voice and her place on the stage as a vehicle for political change.

With this in mind, I can’t help but think about how my mother would have responded if she were alive to see your situation come to light in the media. While I’m sure she would have appreciated your dedication to the NAACP and other anti-discrimination organizations and respected your relationship to the Black community in some ways, I think she would have seen your identification as Black as at odds with her political mission. To realize why, you need only listen to her music. In “Mississippi Goddam,” “Mr. Backlash,” and “Young, Gifted, and Black,” for example, there are themes of institutional oppression against Black people and the power in collective action of Black people against the state. By purposefully misrepresenting your racial background, you undermine the crucial aspect of shared historical oppression and its role in consciousness-raising.  

Coincidentally, I found myself in another political controversy surrounding Blackness and colorism not too long ago. A movie about my mom starred Zoe Saldana and used make up to make her skin appear darker and change other aesthetic facial features, in addition to manipulating and twisting facts about her life into a new narrative. While I have nothing against Zoe Saldana particularly, I know for a fact that another actor of color with darker skin who more closely resembles my mother could have been chosen. Your story, like this one, raises questions about the malleability of racial identity and perceived vs. possessed identities.

I think looking back to some of the most important activists, artists, and thinkers in the American Civil Rights movement, including my mother, could be a productive place to start a conversation about what constitutes racial identity – and what can never do so - during times of political crisis and otherwise.

Sincerely,
Lisa Simone