Rachel Dolezal is president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP. Recently she was the target of death threats and hateful letters. That sent in motion an investigation into who could have sent them.
Dolezal’s parents have a theory.
Perhaps someone upset that their daughter is a white woman who has been pretending to be black.
Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said Thursday that they want people to know the truth, including that their daughter Rachel Dolezal is Caucasian. The Dolezals said their daughter is specifically German and Czech.
Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said their daughter has always identified with the African-American culture and had black siblings who were adopted. They said she went to school in Mississippi and was part of a primarily African-American community.
The Dolezals said their daughter married and later divorced a black man. They said after the divorce in 2004, she began identifying differently. She started claiming to be partially African American and the daughter of biracial parents. They have noticed a change in her physical appearance, but do not know how that occurred.
“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,” said Ruthanne Dolezal.
The couple said they do not have a problem with Rachel advocating for a civil rights group for African Americans, rather that she is being deceptive about it.
Dolezal is estranged from her parents because they are embroiled in a legal battle. She evidently doesn’t consider her parents her actual parents.
Her perfectly logical response to this bombshell?
In addressing public sentiment that she misrepresented her race, Dolezal said, “I can understand that. And like I said, 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.”
Here’s a tremendous on-camera reaction to being quizzed about her race. Spoiler alert: she walks off.
Say what you want about this lady but she definitely has some big, brass balls. And a loose understanding of reality. Like, how did it take this long for the truth to come out?
What’s really crazy is that Robert Downey Jr. tried to pull the same shit in Tropic Thunder. Did Dolezal learn nothing from his mistakes?
I guess the real lesson in all of this is to dream big. Don’t let anyone tell you something is impossible. Sky’s the limit if you just believe.
[H/T: USA Today]