Wednesday, June 17, 2015

I was Rachel Dolezal Before Rachel Dolezal: A Preview of Coming Attractions

This post is all about me.

Yes, ME.

As the bizarre Rachel Dolezal story gets ever more bizarre (e.g., sex tape, plagiarized artwork, suing Howard University for being biased against because she's white, etc.) I harken back to a time when I, too, was a transracial, transgender warrior.

On the summer of 1994 while stationed in Bolivia, I wrote a long cable to the Director General which became famous/infamous for challenging the State Department's "diversity program." The cable got picked up and reprinted in its entirety by Washingtonian Magazine; became featured in a highly critical and misleading way in The Nation; read into the Congressional Record by the late (and great) Senator Jesse Helms; sparked a brief but furious exchange with the Director General; and nearly terminated my career--a career which had several near death experiences, I might add. It also got me a very nice note from Senator Helms. I used to brag of being the only FSO who had a fan letter from the Senator. That was a powerful amulet to have whenever some of the PC types at State thought about moving against me.

This post is a tease.

It's going to take me a bit to transcribe the cable--it's a rather lengthy one and from an age before the internet. I think you will enjoy it, and come to agree with me that Rachel Dolezal is a copycat.

Give me a couple of days or so.

15 comments:

  1. Like the cat who ate the cheese and sat by the mouse hole, I await with bated breath.

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  2. I have been waiting for this tale. You have teased it before, like the Lavrov story.

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  3. Count me as one who wants to read it too!

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  4. Matt, the Seventh ReaderJune 17, 2015 at 8:45 PM

    Yawn!

    Let me know about the time when you were Caitlynn Jenner before Bruce Jenner was Caitlynn Jenner.

    In all seriousness, I can hardly wait to read more about any of your experiences in the FSO. Kafka would probably dismiss most of them as unbelievable.

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  5. Wow, I am surprised you survived as long as you did. Ballsy.
    Cap doffed. I hate teases.

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  6. Ahhh yes. Jesse Helms. Who held up my promotion into the SFS. Was not my friend after that.

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  7. She has added a topic for conversation. The question is whether she is nuts or a hustler.

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  8. And not an alien ?

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  9. As a little counter-tease, here's a link to a 1988 news article quoting the Diplomad:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/07/05/fraud_not-just-in-defense/cb73b36a-eb33-412f-aa29-35b6b0c4c2ed/

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    Replies
    1. Ah, yes, I got some hammering for that one.

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    2. I admire you weighing into that particular fray!

      But note that, in reality, the inflated price most likely is due primarily to the paperwork requirements of the contract. (IIRC the truth of the matter was you couldn't get a replacement hammer separately, but only as part of a complete, extensive toolkit.)

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  10. I have a confession, folks. I'm not really a former junior FSO. I'm Polish-born, and my real name is Jan Karol Wojtyla. The truth of the matter is that one day, while reading the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament, I wondered what my job had to do with what I was reading. I read Martin Luther, then my fellow Pole Jan Laski, and became a Protestant. I snuck out the back door of the Vatican in mufti one night. made my way to America, and became a schoolteacher.

    Straw poll (Pole?): How many of Dip's readers believe me for even a second?

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    Replies
    1. Sounds perfectly logical to me. :-)

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    2. Here here! I have learned that Kepha is not to be doubted. A run for President in your future maybe?

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    3. whitewall: Now, how could I run for POTUS if I am really Polish-born? Just being facetious. Then again, seeing the anointing of Shrillary Shroooooo, it seems that a citizen of Cloud-cuckooland can become POTUS. Why not a Polish-born ex-Pope?

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