The scandal is that she lied to gain a position in power. She's a university teacher. This is a problem. She's the president of a national organization. That's a problem. She pretended her adopted black brother was her son. She asked a stranger to pose as her father. That's a problem. She got a free ride to Howard, applying that she was black, that's a problem.
I am going to deconstruct the premise of your post.
The very word race was created in the beginning to flex white superiority and colonialism. Its very purpose from the beginning was to divide and conquer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_race_conceptsAs it is, race as we know it, is a fairly modern concept. You are correct, it is a social construct.
Gender comparatively, while also being a social construct in terms of roles, is still a psychological requirement as a part of human identity. It's one of the things that keeps up sane. Studies have shown that people who have their gender identity taken away from them spiral into a pool of depression. It's one of the many reasons Alan Turing killed himself when he was given estrogen or how men become depressed when their testosterone levels get low.
You say that gender is a social construct and not observable by science and you are completely, 100% flat on your face incorrect.
http://www.isna.org/faq/concealmenthttp://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/02/us/study-links-brain-to-transsexuality.htmlhttp://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-science-of-transgender-20140730http://m.mic.com/articles/109652/being-transgender-is-not-a-phase-science-just-proved-what-trans-kids-have-known-all-alongAlso, one must make the distinction between racial and cultural. The woman may culturally identify with black people; this does not make her black. An Afro Latino identifies with being Latino, that does not make them Spanish. She may have had a black husband; that doesn't make her black.
Empathy is important, true. But empathy does not mean the criticisms she has garnered are not legitimate or deserved. Empathy in this case means not harassing her, it doesn't mean calling her on her shit. And in this case especially, "empathy" is merely a tool for people to not only excuse the lies and fraud she has committed but hand waving black and Trans struggle at the same time while propping up petty white supremacist arguments like trying to be "understanding" when this woman manipulated her community, took away potential leadership positions from actual black people (hello Mormapope, fuck you) while ignoring historical cases like my dear grandma. Historically, black people who could pass as white did so for survival and to put food on their table. She didn't need to do either.
I will not empathize with white supremacy.
