NAACP Leader Posed as Black (?)

[tropaka]

I don't know what to say/think:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... im-parents

The biological parents of a prominent civil rights activist in Washington state have claimed that she has been misrepresenting herself as a black woman when her heritage is white.

Rachel Dolezal is an academic, chair of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission in the Washington city of Spokane and president of the city’s chapter of African American civil rights organisation the NAACP.

Dolezal, professor of Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University, where she specialises in Black Studies and African American culture, has regularly spoken out on local media about racial justice.

The parents of prominent US civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal, who is accused of pretending to be African American, say their daughter is a master of disguise

But this week, in a recorded interview with the local Spokane news channel KREM 2 News, the Dolezals said their daughter’s biological heritage was not African American but German and Czech, with traces of Native American ancestry.

Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said their daughter had black adopted siblings and had attended school in Mississippi where her social circle had been primarily African American. She had later married and subsequently divorced an African American man, they said.

Her parents claim that post-divorce in 2004, their daughter began to adapt her appearance. “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. And that’s simply not true,†Mrs Dolezal said.

In the news video, the Dolezals displayed pictures of their daughter as a blonde child, and also at her wedding several years ago. The couple later provided a copy of their daughter’s birth certificate to the Spokesman-Review newspaper.

Dolezal has since told local media that she is not in touch with the Dolezals because of an ongoing lawsuit and does not view them as her real parents.

The 37-year-old told the Spokesman Review on Thursday she would prioritise speaking to her executive committee before commenting on speculation in the media. “I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation,†she said, adding the subject was a “multilayered issueâ€.

“The question is not as easy as it seems. There’s a lot of complexities … and I don’t know that everyone would understand that. We’re all from the African continent.â€

A statement from Spokane City Hall said Dolezal had listed her ethnicity as a mix of white, black and American Indian, as well as a number of others, in an application to the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission.

“We are gathering facts to determine if any city policies related to volunteer boards and commissions have been violated,†the mayor, David Condon, and the council president, Ben Stuckart, said in a joint statement. “That information will be reviewed by the city council, which has oversight of city boards and commissions.â€

James Wilburn, former president of the Spokane NAACP chapter, told the Coeur d’Alene Press that Dolezal’s race was not what had qualified her for the position in the organisation.

“It is traditional to have a person of colour in that position, but that hasn’t always been the case in Spokane,†Wilburn said. A woman of European descent was president in the 1990s, he added, and half of the chapter members were not black. “That is probably a result of the fact that only 1.9% of the population in Spokane is African American,†he said.

In Dolezal’s numerous writings on civil rights issues, she does not discuss her own ethnicity in detail, but in several pieces she uses idioms such as “our cultural memory†when speaking about African American history.

In a lecture posted on YouTube, Dolezal speaks about the history of African American hairstyles, saying she will describe “what happened to our hair here in America†when slavery meant certain kinds of styles were banned.

Since the current furore began, Dolezal has closed down her Facebook page, but had been an active user of the site, posting commentary on African American issues and culture.

In a post about the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave, Dolezal said it was “not the best film to take a white partner to on a first date.â€

She advocates sitting in the back row of the cinema so that “if white people are inclined to stare, they have to turn all the way round to do it … so that during the movie people aren’t constantly looking at you to monitor the ‘black response’ to the film.â€

Dolezal’s parents have alleged she has portrayed her black adopted sibling, Izaiah, as her son in pictures on social media. Dolezal confirmed later to the CDA Press that Izaiah is one of her adopted brothers. “But I have full custody of him now,†she added.

The Facebook page of Spokane’s NAACP also has a photo of Dolezal with an older black man, describing him as her father. But the CDA Press names the man as Albert Wilkerson, a volunteer at the organisation where Dolezal was previously employed, the Human Rights Education Institute in north Idaho.

In an interview about her portrait art with magazine the Easterner, Dolezal described a traumatic upbringing, where her parents would “punish us by skin complexionâ€. She also described being raised in a teepee and hunting for food with a bow and arrow. Her parents now say they indeed lived in a teepee but before their daughter was born.

The NAACP president has been a regular face at local demonstrations and on TV channels, and has made the news on numerous occasions for the graphic hate mail she received, including nooses left at her home.

In one of the most recent incidents, Dolezal found an envelope containing pictures of lynchings in the organisation’s postbox at the local post office. Postal workers later told police the envelope had never been posted, and had been placed in the box by someone who had an access key.

[FundieFarmer]

Same about not knowing what to say/think. I guess if the local chapter winds up not caring, it'll blow over, but good grief why lie about that? Also goes to show another situation where solid vetting just didn't happen. Though why the parents wanted to out her is beyond me- that seems all kinds of vindictive. Either way, I don't think she can move up on the political ladder easily after this.

ETA: interesting piece from 11Alive, with stills of the wedding, etc. She really did change her appearance though- it even looks like she got a nose job. Plus the information about the unstamped letter in this article really paints her as a questionable person. If nobody had access to the USPS box but USPS employees and NAACP board members, and all USPS employees have been cleared, and Delazol is on record saying she doesn't think it was anyone from NAACP, then...

11alive.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/11/spokane-naacp-president-questions/71101474/

[tropaka]

there seems to be litigation going on - she accused her parents of abuse and of playing off the different childrens' backgrounds. It's very strange.

[Firiel]

Wow. So, she receives "threatening letters" in the mail but those letters are missing postal markings, indicating that they were not actually mailed through the postal service. She is now known to have co-opted the identity/experience of a marginalized people group for political/social/career gains.

:cray-cray:

This sounds like a real-life Razing Ruth.

[FundieFarmer]

Wow. So, she receives "threatening letters" in the mail but those letters are missing postal markings, indicating that they were not actually mailed through the postal service. She is now known to have co-opted the identity/experience of a marginalized people group for political/social/career gains.

:cray-cray:

This sounds like a real-life Razing Ruth.

That, and even before that she got two threats that were totally unsubstantiated and no one was ever accused...and she found a phantom noose somewhere that also didn't point to anybody.

Something is fishy.

[bea]

So she has full custody of a child her parents adopted? Sounds like there's been a lot of conflict in the family.

I've seen people talking about this on Twitter, apparently she claims to have apologized to everyone who needs an apology. But goodness, what an odd story. I'd be suggesting a psychiatric evaluation, if I were involved in the NAACP leadership.

[Firiel]

So she has full custody of a child her parents adopted? Sounds like there's been a lot of conflict in the family.

I've seen people talking about this on Twitter, apparently she claims to have apologized to everyone who needs an apology. But goodness, what an odd story. I'd be suggesting a psychiatric evaluation, if I were involved in the NAACP leadership.

Of her 21 year old brother. So I suspect she gained custody when he was a teenager, not when he was young (which to me, at least, doesn't have the same implications of the parents).

[ShepherdontheRock]

I've seen some of her Instagram posts- there are ones with her showing off "natural" hair that I guess isn't even natural hair.. Reads to me like a case of someone who's had a bad past desperately trying to reinvent herself/get attention maybe combined with white guilt (as opposed to white ally ship.) I mean, if she is in fact mostly white, what she did is HELLA problematic on SO many levels.

[nausicaa]

Ugh. There are conservatives now saying criticizing her is hypocritical if one also supports Caitlyn Jenner. They are mockingly using the term "transracial."

Superficial aside: How does a white woman with such naturally fine and lank hair get hers to become that curly and full? I didn't think that a perm could do that.

[Firiel]

Ugh. There are conservatives now saying criticizing her is hypocritical if one also supports Caitlyn Jenner. They are mockingly using the term "transracial."

Superficial aside: How does a white woman with such naturally fine and lank hair get hers to become like that? I didn't think that a perm could do that.

OMG, I've been wondering that all day!

I have no idea. I think if I got a perm like that, my hair would be so damaged it would fall out.

[nausicaa]

OMG, I've been wondering that all day!

I have no idea. I think if I got a perm like that, my hair would be so damaged it would fall out.

I honestly don't think my hair could do it. I did see some really funny tweets like "Has anyone talked to her hairdresser? #theyknew" and "But that hairdresser is loyal as hell tho" :lol:

I also wonder how often she had to go tanning and how she scheduled it so the tan wouldn't fade.

[ShepherdontheRock]

Ugh. There are conservatives now saying criticizing her is hypocritical if one also supports Caitlyn Jenner. They are mockingly using the term "transracial."

Superficial aside: How does a white woman with such naturally fine and lank hair get hers to become like that? I didn't think that a perm could do that.

She might be wearing a weave/wig.

Now that you bring it up, there is a group of people on tumblr that refer to themselves as transethnic/transracial. I think the term was originally meant to be for adopted children who were raised by parents with a different ethnicity than theirs, however there is a group on tumblr that has appropriated the term to refer to themselves, and claim to believe they are another ethnicity than the one they were born as. The more mainstream racial justice activists can't stand these people for reasons that should be fairly obvious. I think it's a strange coincidence that non tumblr types (conservatives) are catching on to this though...

Edited to make a couple sentences more clear.

[Firiel]

I honestly don't think my hair could do it. I did see some really funny tweets like "Has anyone talked to her hairdresser? #theyknew" and "But that hairdresser is loyal as hell tho" :lol:

I also wonder how often she had to go tanning and how she scheduled it so the tan wouldn't fade.

I wonder if she did some not-too-severe skin dying too. Because keeping a tan like that would be hard, and it seems like it's generally pretty easy to tell the difference between a tan person and a person of color.

[ShepherdontheRock]

I wonder if she did some not-too-severe skin dying too. Because keeping a tan like that would be hard, and it seems like it's generally pretty easy to tell the difference between a tan person and a person of color.

They have really good foundation on the market too. She could be doing that.

[Firiel]

Crap, I'm getting tired just thinking about the massive effort it would take to pull of a charade like this for years.

Reminds me of the fake 9/11 survivor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Esteve_Head

[nausicaa]

I wonder if she did some not-too-severe skin dying too. Because keeping a tan like that would be hard, and it seems like it's generally pretty easy to tell the difference between a tan person and a person of color.

There is such a thing as skin dying? Wow, I had no idea. I assumed she was tanning because I thought her skin showed signs of some sun damage.

[Firiel]

There is such a thing as skin dying? Wow, I had no idea. I assumed she was tanning because I thought her skin showed signs of some sun damage.

I don't actually know-- I think I just assumed there was because there is such a thing as skin lightening. :embarrassed:

[Firiel]

In an interview with Eastern Washington University’s Easterner, Dolezal made several claims about her life before coming to teach and work as an activist. Many of those facts were untrue, her parents told the Coeur d’Alene Press.

Dolezal again spoke about the abuse she had endured as a child to the Easterner. She said she was born in a tepee, and the family hunted with bows and arrows. She also described living in South Africa.

As a young woman, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent chemotherapy, she said. But she kept her long, blonde dreadlocks and still sometimes wore them after recovery, the Easterner reported.

“I’m the postmodern Rapunzel with locs,†she said in a Facebook comment.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/ ... .pm7Q2Yyrg

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Ten bucks says she never had cancer.

We should introduce her to Razing Ruth.

[halcionne]

I keep coming in here to make a comment and leaving again, because it's just so ridiculous.

IMO in the short video at the Gaurdian link she looks like she's busted and she knows it. :lol:

[MatthewDuggar]

I saw this on the news tonight (local even though I am no where near where she lives). It's so interesting. What is the world is motivating her to pretend she's another race? They showed an interview where a reporter thew her a curve ball and showed her a picture of her white parents and she literally took off from the interview.

You can get perm rods small enough to create an afro effect.

[GiggleOfGirls]

This is a good article about why it's ridiculous to compare this situation with Caitlyn Jenner's decision: huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/12/rachel-dolezal-caitlyn-jenner_n_7569160.html?1434138166

Since, as mentioned by someone else upthread, it's apparently a "thing" now to compare "transracial" with "transgender"

[crazyforkate]

I have been bizarrely fascinated by this all day. It's just so damn weird. Like, what the hell? Why? I think she must have had something seriously messed up in her past to go to such an extreme!

[Geechee Girl]

Miss GG alerted me to this story this morning. Black Twitter went IN! No one would have come for her had she not exerted her privilege in passing. It makes no sense! She already had cred in attending a HBCU, her spouse, children, and hair skills as indicators of being comfortable in the African-American culture. She was down, an ally, but this feels like a slap in the face. As much as she thinks she understands the struggle, she can choose not to subject herself to driving while Black, shopping while Black, or a plethora of ills associated with being in our minority group. I can't be here for her racial cosplay, even though her hair game was on point. :evil-eye:

[Anny Nym]

Google came up with the Buzzfeed article when I typed her name in and...

Whow! Just beyond bizarre on so many levels! So she is like a reverse Kidist?

for example:

"She said she was born in a tepee, and the family hunted with bows and arrows. She also described living in South Africa. " :wtf:

Besides the funny facts that "Dolezal" is a typical and very common bohemian/czech surname, I don´t understand how she could pull that off for so long without someone having her called out? She has a vast social media presence, why didn´t some former classmates/childhood friends/relatives come forward, saying "Oh, that´s Ruthanne, we were in the same english class in middle school and that ain´t her natural hair. And I know her parents too, they are white!"

Also, that odd post aber HER watching "white people´s reactions" at 12 years a slave. Besides that it is a godawful post, I don´t think anyone would turn to her watching for "black reactions", not even in a dark cinema.

[Mom-mouth]

I have been reading about this all day. I just don't understand it which is why I think it is so fascinating to me. I was researching this and found that her parents live about 20 miles from me.

Which made it all the more fascinating to me because this area is like living in the biggest fucked up, junior high school mentality, southern wanna-be, soul sucking bubble section of hell. I could totally see someone moving from here and wanting to not be associated with this area ever again (not sure if she was raised here though. I could force myself to talk to my parents and ask though) and honestly, I wouldn't blame them... but changing your ethnicity? I don't get it. I mean, I have black in me (from way back in the family tree) but I am not claiming to be black either. I don't even look black.

So then I looked at her pictures thinking maybe she looks black? No. She looks white to me. Well, actually kind of orange in some of her pictures. Is that spray tan? Because there isn't a lot of sun up here. How is she staying that tan? No, she looks white to me.

I totally forgot where I was going with this... anyway, I am baffled.