Parents of NAACP leader: She lied about her race

Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash.

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 actually is white. As proof, they produced pictures of her as a blonde, blue-eyed child.

The city also is investigating whether she lied about her ethnicity when she applied to be on the police board. And police said Friday 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 Friday supporting Dolezal, who has been a longtime figure in Spokane’s human-rights community.

“One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criterion 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.

“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.”

“We’re all from the African continent,” she added.

Ruthanne Dolezal of Troy, Mont., told reporters this week that she has had no contact with her daughter in years. She said Rachel began to “disguise herself” after her parents adopted four African-American children more than a decade ago. Rachel later married and divorced a black man and graduated from historically black Howard University.

Rachel Dolezal dismissed the controversy, saying it arose from litigation between other relatives who have divided the family.