Parents of NAACP leader say she lied about her race

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Rachel Dolezal leads the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, teaches African studies to college students and sits on a police oversight commission.

But the 37-year-old artist and activist with dark curly hair and light-brown skin now finds herself at the center of a furor over racial identity after family members said she has falsely portrayed herself as black for years when she is actually white. As proof, they produced pictures of her as a blonde, blue-eyed child.

The city is also investigating whether she lied about her ethnicity when she applied to be on the police board. And police today said they were suspending investigations into racial harassment complaints filed by Dolezal, including one from earlier this year in which she said she received hate mail at her office.

The NAACP issued a statement today supporting Dolezal, who has been a longtime figure in Spokane's human-rights community.

"One's racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership," the group said. "In every corner of this country, the NAACP remains committed to securing political, educational and economic justice for all people."

Dolezal did not return several telephone messages left Friday by The Associated Press.

On Thursday, she avoided answering questions directly about her race and ethnicity in an interview with The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

"That question is not as easy as it seems," she said. "There's a lot of complexities ... and I don't know that everyone would understand that."