Stolen Valor, as defined in the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (H.R. 258), is the fraudulent claim of military award or decoration with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit from convincing someone that he or she did rightfully receive the award or decoration.
To coin a phrase, and the related concept, there is also a moral offense that I call ‘Stolen Privilege’. This is the fraudulent claim of ones’ racial composition with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit from convincing someone that they are a particular race.
In the last year, we have heard incessantly about White Privilege. This, the left tells us, is when one has societal privileges or advantages in America -- indeed, the entire Western world -- just for being white. So, let us consider the privileges associated with being colors other than white: There are advantages, financial and otherwise, to claiming Native American status. There are advantages, financial and otherwise, to claiming African American status.
One can cogently argue that these other-than-white Privileges are a requisite offset for decades of systemic oppression. I don't disagree. But still, privileges they are, and they are afforded on the basis of color.
Rachel Dolezal was hired as the Spokane Chapter President of the NAACP, and she remained Chapter President for a very long time, with the understanding that she was black – even though she was white all along. Most NAACP groups tend to hire, as their Chapter President, a man or woman of color.
Rachel Dolezal is guilty of Stolen Privilege.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has claimed Native American Ancestry several times, most recently in a book "A Fighting Chance", even though her claims have been debunked many times and by many groups. Some allege that she used this false claim to Native American heritage to get an edge over others when competing for a job at Harvard College, and she certainly uses this for a political edge over her opponents.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is guilty of Stolen Privilege.
I would never advocate that ‘Stolen Privilege’ should ever be made into a prosecutable law – we have far too many laws, and far too many of them border on criminalizing simple foolishness – but I do advocate that ‘Stolen Privilege’ should be a concept used to mock and shame those who abuse the truth in a quest for money or power.
