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I sat down on Wednesday to put in writing my own thoughts about the roiling debate over Rachel Dolezal’s decision to “pass for black.” Now the murder of nine African Americans in church by a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina, has made incessant analysis of Dolezal’s identity seem less important. However, there are ways that events in Charleston and Spokane can be linked. In both instances there are two themes being debated: the social construction of race and how whites can be allies to communities of color.