Despite allegations that she has over the years misrepresented her ethnic identity as African American, Rachel Dolezal , 37 –president of the Spokane NAACP, civil rights activist, and Howard University graduate – has given very few answers in response to repeated inquiries from the media since a white couple from Troy, Montana, came forward Thursday, saying Rachel is white and that she is their biological daughter.
She has also avoided addressing questions about allegations that she fabricated claims she received threatening letters and pictures.
A white couple from Montana, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, came forward Thursday, claiming that Rachel is their biological daughter and that she is white.
But earlier on Wednesday afternoon while a KXLY reporter interviewed her about the alleged hate mail, she was confronted with a photo of a black man posted to the Spokane NAACP Facebook page.
When KXLY reporter Jeffrey Humphrey asked Dolezal whether the man in the photo was her father, as she had claimed on Facebook, she answered, “Yes that is my dad.”
Humphrey then rephrased his question, saying, “Ma’am, I was wondering if your dad really is an African American man.”
She said, “That’s a very… I mean, I don’t know what you’re implying.”
“Are you African American?” Humphrey asked.
She hesitated then said, “I don’t understand the question. I did tell you [that man in the picture] is my dad.”
Humphrey persisted, “Are your parents… are they white?”
She did not respond to the question but walked away from the reporter, ending the interview.
But she later told KREM2 she does not consider her biological parents her real parents. When asked to respond to the public perception that she has misrepresented her racial identity, she said she was more concerned about clarifying the issue with the black community.
“… it’s more important to me to clarify that to the black community, and with my executive board, than it really is for me to explain it to a community that I quite frankly don’t think understands the definitions of race and ethnicity.”
She also reportedly responded to inquiries from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, saying , “That question is not as easy as it seems. There are a lot of complexities… and I don’t know that everyone would understand that…. We’re all from the African continent.”
The Washington Post reports she has refused to return requests for further clarification of her comments and avoided answering questions about allegations that she fabricated the claim about receiving hate mail.
Allegations that she concocted stories of hate crimes against her came after postal officials said the threatening letters she claimed she received at the NAACP mail box were not processed by postal workers, suggesting that she or someone else who had the key to the box placed the letters there.
The white couple – Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal – who came forward Thursday claiming that they are Dolezal’s parents told The Washington Post in a telephone interview that Dolezal appears to have been misrepresenting her ethnic identity.
“There seems to be some question of how Rachel is representing her identity and ethnicity. We are definitely her birth parents. We are both of Caucasian and European descent — Czech, German and a few other things.”
To back up their claims, the couple provided The Washington Post with family photos and Rachel Dolezal’s birth certificate.
The couple, who said they adopted African American children when Rachel was a teenager, suggested that her behavior might be due to the circumstances of her upbringing. They said that being raised with two adopted black siblings and growing up in a community that was mainly African American might have led her to transfer her identity.
“The adoption of the children definitely fueled her interest as a teenager in being involved with people of color. We’ve always had friends of different ethnicities. It was a natural thing for her.”
According to Lawrence Dolezal, Rachel studied “with a portfolio of ‘exclusively African American portraiture’” at Howard University. The University accepted her believing she was a black woman and awarded her a full scholarship.
“You’ve got a white woman coming in that got a full-ride scholarship to the black Harvard. And ever since then she’s been involved in social justice advocacy for African Americans. She assimilated into that culture so strongly that that’s where she transferred her identity… You speak and sound and act and take on the mannerisms of the culture you live in…
“But unfortunately, she is not ethnically by birth African American. She is our daughter by birth. And that’s the way it is.”
One of the adopted sons of the Dolezals, Ezra Dolezal, 22, confirmed that Rachel is white. Commenting on her decision to pose as black woman, Ezra said, “You really should not do that. It’s completely opposite – she’s basically creating more racism.”
Zach, another adopted son, 21, said when he visited Rachel in Spokane she told him not to speak of Lawrence and Ruthanne as her parents.
He said, “It’s a farce, really, is what it is.”
However according to The Washington Post , there appears to be conflict in the family and Rachel is not on speaking terms with her parents, Ezra and Zach.
Rachel confirmed that the family was divided when she was asked on KREM about her relationship with her family. She explained that “There is a lawsuit that’s been going on for almost a year where I supported my younger sister in allegations against her older brother.”
Ezrah claimed that Rachel falsely accused the family of abusing 21-year-old Izaiah, who is also black. Izaiah lives with Rachel in Spokane and claims Izaiah is her son.
“Izaiah always was her favorite child. She turned Izaiah kind of racist. Told Izaiah all this stuff about white people, made him really racist toward white people. I can understand [black] hairstyles and all that, [but] saying her brother is her son, I don’t understand that.”
NAACP has responded to the controversy, saying that “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership,” and that the organization “stands behind [her] advocacy record, regardless of her race.”
[Images: Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal; YouTube/KXLY]