White Civil Rights Activist Falsely Portrays Herself as Black




Current (left) and childhood (right) photos of white woman who misrepresented herself as black

Current (left) and childhood (right) photos of white woman who misrepresented herself as black

A 37-year-old woman born of white parents has faked her racial identity as black or part-black for years.

Rachel Dolezal  represents the black community publically and vocally. She is credited with re-energizing  the Spokane (WA) chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) of which she served six months as president. She  is a part-time professor in the African Studies Program at Eastern Washington University, and serves as chairwoman of Spokane’s Office of Police Ombudsman Commission. She is a graduate of  historically black Howard University, was married to and a black man from whom she is now divorced,  and gives her ethnic identity as white, black, and Native American. She has claimed to be the victim of a number of hate crimes.

Both of Rachel Donezal’s parents are  white; they have a birth certificate listing Rachel as their child, and they have childhood photographs showing Rachel to be blue-eyed with straight blond hair. Rachel now has light brown skin and dark curly hair. They say the family’s ancestry is Czech, Swedish, and German, with a faint trace of Native American. The adoption of some black children into the family influenced Rachel’s interest in being involved with people of color, her parents say, and Rachel began to “disguise herself” at that time. Her father said that while Rachel was attending Howard University,  “She assimilated so strongly into that culture that she transferred her identity.”

Recently, questions surfaced about Donezal’s race and about allegations that some hate crimes she reported were fabricated. When asked about her race during an interview  she did not give a direct answer but said, “That question is not as easy as it seems”…”There’s a lot of complexities and I don’t know if everyone would understand that”…”We’re all from the African continent.” She dismissed the controversy over race, saying it was the result of litigation within the family. Her reports of hate crimes have not resulted in arrests or charges.

The NAACP issued a statement that read in part: “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying [criterion] or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership.”

An inquiry is being conducted at Spokane City Hall to see if any policies have been broken because Donezal claimed to be part-black.

Because of the controversy over her racial identity, Rachel Donezal resigned as President of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP. She wrote that “separation of family and organizational outcomes is in the best interest” of the organization. In an interview after her resignation, she said, “I identify as black”. She said that reporters first portrayed her as transracial, then biracial, then black; she did not correct them. She also said that given the same circumstances she would make the same choices if she had the chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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