People have hijacked an adoption hashtag after a NAACP leader was 'outed' as white

A prominent civil rights leader who most people believed to be black is actually white, according to her parents — and Twitter's freaking out about it.

On Thursday, the parents of Rachel Dolezal — the head of a local NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washginton — told multiple news outlets that despite "disguis[ing] herself" as black, their daughter's heritage was Czech, Swedish, and German with "faint traces" of Native American heritage.

Her mother also told The Spokesman-Review that they didn’t know why their daughter would "disguise herself” as black since 2006 or 2007 with a perm and noticeably tanner skin. Now, she's been elected head of a local chapter of the NAACP.

Some people on Twitter are now saying Dolezal is "transracial"— both seriously as well as jokingly — equating the term with being transgendered. The false logic goes that the same way a transgendered person is born with the wrong anatomy, a person can be born with the wrong race.

But the term "transracial" has never been used this way. Historically, transracial is used in regards to interracial adoption— also known as transracial adoption — and has nothing to do with people from one race "identifying" as another race.

But the term quickly went viral on Twitter anyway, first spotted by MIC’s Darnell L. Moore:

@_fxhemx Caitlyn Jenner didn't "simply wake up" as a woman, she was born a woman. #RachelDolezal was born black. #TransRacial#WrongSkin

— crab_aesthetics (@crab_aesthetics) June 12, 2015

If Bruce Jenner can call himself #transgender then Rachel is #transracial. I know lots of folks who'd switch today! pic.twitter.com/WpYQI954HG

— Carla Morales (@ladypharaoh) June 12, 2015

How does the logic applied to Caitlyn Jenner not also apply to Rachel Dolezal? Please explain #transracial

— Vic Damone Jr. (@MikeBeidleman) June 12, 2015

I think this could possibly be one up on Caitlyn Jenner! #transracial#RachelDolezal

— Cathy Jo Taylor (@cathyjotaylor) June 12, 2015

Soon, people began fighting back against the concept of switching races — without either realizing or citing that "transracial" has a totally different definition that has nothing to do with changing one's race.

My prob w/ #Transracial: Black folk cant decide to be white when the cops raid their pool party. But a white woman can be NAACP president.

— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) June 12, 2015

this whole #transracial nonsense is ridiculous. if you want to claim you "feel" black then you should have had to "feel" the same oppression

— #BuyLoveMeRightOniTu (@pizzayeols) June 12, 2015

in case you're curious: #transracial is not a thing. blackness is not an outfit you get to put on when you like. Next question?

— Teej T (@Halfrican_One) June 12, 2015

There were also a few jokes.

Me: *goes into a store* Employee: *follows me* Me: it's ok I'm #transracial I'm actually white don't worry :) :)

— blurryface (@pvnkfairy) June 12, 2015

I'm actually a white man. I was born with the wrong skin. Can I get some access and privilege? #transracial

— malcolm flex. (@audacityofDOPE_) June 12, 2015

This is also not the first instance of someone on Twitter using the term transracial in this way.

Back in April, a Twitter user used screen shots of what was quite possibly a joke statement by someone claiming to be a white woman wanting to be “trans-black." She used stereotypes to bolster her claim. 

#transracialpic.twitter.com/HHE7vvl2B2

— israa (@frrizze) April 5, 2015

Not all Twitter users misinterpret the term "transracial."

If you keep going back in Twitter’s history, you’ll see that before the Dolezal news broke, the most common use for the #transracial hashtag was in tandem with the hashtag #adoption, referring to interracial adoption where a child from a different race is adopted by parents from a different race, for example white parents adopting a black child.

How one white mother talked to her two black children about racism in America http://t.co/7mMLDAnhlt#transracial#adoption

— AdoptUSKids (@AdoptUSKids) December 21, 2014

#Closure the #Documentary: #Transracial#adoption complexities and the necessity for closure A documentary about a https://t.co/7s6OXy5TUr

— Robin Sizemore (@HopscotchAdopt) November 23, 2014

So unless they’re referring to interracial adoption, you can show this tweet to anyone in favor of the  #transracial hashtag on Twitter:

#Transracial is NOT a thing. #RachelDolezal

— Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) June 12, 2015

SEE ALSO: What the NAACP leader accused of pretending to be black said when asked about her ethnicity

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