"Are your parents...are they white?"
June 12, 2015 6:49 AM Subscribe
Rachel Dolezal, a prominent civil rights activist in Washington State, has recently been accused of misrepresenting herself as a black woman, when according to her parents her heritage was actually white.
Dolezal is the President of the local NAACP and chair of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission, a professor of African American studies and a prominent civil rights activist who regularly spoke out about racial justice.
In March and May, Dolezal claimed she found threatening, racially charged letters in the NAACP mailbox, however investigators could not find any postal markings on the package. Further investigations of the claim raised questions beyond the letters themselves and eventually led to an interview with Dolezal's parents, where her parents noted"Rachel has wanted to be somebody she's not. She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true."
Her race is now under scrutiny having identified an older black man as her father and is now facing accusations that she built her "career as a black woman."
A former president of the NAACP in Spokane has noted that Dolezal’s race was not what had qualified her for the position in the organisation, given that Spokane's population is only 1.9% African-American and that non-African Americans have served as President of the Chapter in the past.
Dolezal is the President of the local NAACP and chair of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission, a professor of African American studies and a prominent civil rights activist who regularly spoke out about racial justice.
In March and May, Dolezal claimed she found threatening, racially charged letters in the NAACP mailbox, however investigators could not find any postal markings on the package. Further investigations of the claim raised questions beyond the letters themselves and eventually led to an interview with Dolezal's parents, where her parents noted"Rachel has wanted to be somebody she's not. She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true."
Her race is now under scrutiny having identified an older black man as her father and is now facing accusations that she built her "career as a black woman."
A former president of the NAACP in Spokane has noted that Dolezal’s race was not what had qualified her for the position in the organisation, given that Spokane's population is only 1.9% African-American and that non-African Americans have served as President of the Chapter in the past.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a strange and terrible story and it's understandably the talk of the town -- but without any further context/details coming out I feel there's little to actually discuss here beyond just restating variations on how strange and terrible it is. -- goodnewsfortheinsane
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posted by staccato signals of constant information at 7:00 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]