The parents of a civil rights activist in Spokane, Washington, said their daughter has misrepresented herself as black for years, spurring a growing discussion on social media about race and identity.
Rachel Dolezal, 37, the president of the US’ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter in Spokane and a part-time professor in the Africana Studies program at Eastern Washington University, has said on at least one application that she is black, as well as white and Native American.
Members of civil rights organizations in the Spokane area said Dolezal has claimed that she is part African-American. Claims that she received hate mail in late February and March generated much local media coverage and more than a little skepticism.
Photo: AP
However, Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal on Thursday told a local TV station that their daughter is Caucasian and had changed her appearance over time to look black. Ruthanne Dolezal told reporters that she and her daughter had not been in touch for years, but that her daughter began to portray herself as African-American eight or nine years ago, after the family adopted four black children.
“She chose to represent herself as an African-American woman or a biracial person, and that’s simply not true,” Ruthanne Dolezal said.
Rachel Dolezal on Thursday deflected questions about her race.
“I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation” before publicly discussing the “multilayered” issue, she told Spokane’s Spokesman-Review.
“That question is not as easy as it seems,” she added.
In a statement on Friday, the NAACP said: “The NAACP Alaska-Oregon-Washington State Conference stands behind Ms Dolezal’s advocacy record,” noting that “one’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria [sic] or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership.”
The group also said Rachel Dolezal was “enduring a legal issue with her family, and we respect her privacy in this matter.”
The Spokesman-Review has credited Rachel Dolezal with re-energizing the Spokane chapter of the NAACP since being elected last year.
The city of Spokane is investigating whether Rachel Dolezal lied when she identified herself as African-American on an application to serve in a volunteer position on the citizen police ombudsman commission, according to a local TV station.
“If this is true, I’ll be very disappointed,” Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart told reporters, adding that the council would meet soon to discuss the issue.
Rachel Dolezal, who in several instances has claimed to be a victim of racial harassment, ended a TV interview when pressed on her background.
Her father told BuzzFeed that she had cut off communication with her parents.
“She’s our birth daughter and we’re both of European descent,” he said.
Her mother told reporters that the family was Czech, Swedish and German, with some Native American roots.
The Dolezals provided what they said was their daughter’s birth certificate to the Washington Post.
Rachel Dolezal, who appears to have deleted posts from her Facebook page, maintains an active presence online, including a Web site displaying her artwork. In February, she told a reporter with the Eastern Washington University newspaper that her pieces, many with civil rights themes, sold for thousands of dollars.
The news spread beyond Washington state on Thursday night and attracted a voluminous response on social media, with an outcry surfacing on Twitter in particular. Much of the reaction moved beyond the specifics of Dolezal’s case and into larger discussion about race issues.
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