Now this is something you do not see everyday. A white person attempting to pass as an African American. And I should strike out attempting because Rachel Dolezal has been passing for over 20 years.
The racial identity of one of the most prominent faces in Spokane, Washington’s black community is under question after her parents produced a birth certificate that showed she is white.
Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP and has identified herself as African-American. But her Montana birth certificate says she was born to two Caucasian parents.
Dolezal has represented herself as at least part African-American in an application for the police ombudsman commission.
And she has presented the public with a different family photograph posted to the local NAACP chapter’s Facebook page. When she announced her father was coming to town for a visit, she showed herself standing next to an older African-American man.
Dolezal’s public racial identity came under scrutiny on Thursday, when a reporter from KXLY held up that photo asked her a simple question.
This is how the conversation went:
“Is that your dad?”
“Yeah, that’s…that’s my dad.”
“This man right here’s your father? Right there?”
“You have a question about that?”
“Yes ma’am, I was wondering if your dad really is an African-American man.”
“That’s a very — I mean, I don’t know what you’re implying.”
Dolezal has built a wide-ranging career on her racial identity.
She is not just president of her local NAACP chapter; she is also an academic expert on African-American culture and teaches many related classes at Eastern Washington University.
She represents the black community publicly and vocally, including as a spokeswoman on race-influenced police violence. On Tuesday she spoke to Al Jazeera on the topic.
She has appeared alongside Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who has filed charges against police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man.
The mayor of Spokane appointed Dolezal chairwoman of a police oversight committee to keep an eye on fairness in police work.
After the allegations of faked racial identity surfaced, Mayor David Condon and City Council President Ben Stuckart issued a statement. “We… take very seriously the concerns raised regarding the chair of the independent citizen police ombudsman commission.” The city is checking to see if she has violated any policies.
My two-cents: As an African American woman I thought the hate crimes was a bit much … but if she wants to be down in the trenches working for the struggle, then by all means welcome sister. This society is all full of posers. We have fake asses, tits, eyes, fake social media accounts. We change genders and names. So why stop at race … especially if you’re down and working for the cause. Yes, it’s strange, but yep… I’m okay with it.
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