Dolezal resigns, doubles down on blackness

Rachel Dolezal, president of the NAACP in Spokane, WA, has resigned after gaining international media attention surrounding her racial origins but Dolezal is doubling down and maintains she is 'black'.

Dolezal made headlines last week when reports surfaced that the former African Studies professor and NAACP chapter president had misrepresented herself as a black woman.

In an interview with the Today show's Matt Lauer, Dolezal was asked, "[a]re you an African-American woman?"

"I identify as black," Dolezal responded.

The parents of Dolezal provided childhood photos of their daughter explaining that “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.” According to her parents, Dolezal is not black or biracial, but is of German and Czech descent.

While she did not confirm or deny any of the allegations of misrepresentation in her resignation, Dolezal said that “challenging the construct of race is at the core of evolving human consciousness” but that activists should not lose focus on “game changers” like healthcare and voting rights.

Dolezal expressed her full commitment to “empowering marginalized voices” stating that she believes “many individuals have been heard in the last hours and days that would not otherwise have had a platform to weigh in on this important discussion.”

As previously reported by Campus Reform, Rachel Doležal, worked as a professor in the Africana Studies Program at EWU teaching courses such as “The Black Woman’s Struggle” and “African American Culture.”

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