Rachel Dolezal: NAACP leader to address accusations of lying about race

SPOKANE NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal says she will speak about the furore over racial identity sparked after her parents said she has falsely portrayed herself as black for years, but she is actually white.
KHQ-TV in Spokane reported that Dolezal sent a message to NAACP members saying she would address the situation at a Monday night meeting of the group.
“As you probably know by now, there are questions and assumptions swirling in national and global news about my family, my race, my credibility, and the NAACP,” Dolezal’s message said. “I have discussed the situation, including personal matters, with the Executive Committee.
“I support their decision to wait until Monday to make a statement. The Executive team asked that I also release my response statement at the same time, which will be during the 7-9 p.m. monthly membership meeting.”
Dolezal is a 37-year-old artist and activist with dark curly hair and light-brown skin. Her parents in Montana have produced pictures of her as a blonde, blue-eyed child to prove that she is white.

The city of Spokane is investigating whether she lied about her ethnicity when she applied to be on the police board. And police on Friday said 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.
“My sons and I would appreciate your thoughts, prayers and support during the interlude,” Dolezal also said in her message.
The NAACP issued a statement Friday supporting Dolezal, who has been a longtime figure in Spokane’s human-rights community and teaches African studies to college students.
“One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria 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 has not returned several telephone messages left by The Associated Press.
On Thursday, she avoided answering questions directly about her race and ethnicity in an interview with The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

“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.
The Spokesman Review in Spokane reported Saturday that the black man she claims is her father implied otherwise in a brief telephone interview. Albert Wilkerson Jr. said that he has “nothing negative to say about Rachel” and was reluctant to get involved in the controversy.
“I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus,” Wilkerson said. Asked about social media postings in which Dolezal identifies him as her father, Wilkerson replied: “You know the answer to that, and that’s all I’m going to say,” then hung up.
Ruthanne Dolezal of Troy, Montana, 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.