KXLY: This man right here is your father? Right there?
Dolezal: "You have a question about that?"
KXLY: Yes, ma'am. I was wondering if your dad really is an African-American man?
Dolezal: "That's a very–I mean, I don't–I don't know what you're implying."
KXLY: Are you African-American?
Dolezal: "I don't, I don't understand the question of—I did tell you that, yes, that's my dad. And he was unable to come in January."
KXLY: Are your parents, are they white?
Dolezal: "I refuse." Dolezal walks away and turns off her mic.[89]
On June 11, Jeff Selle and Maureen Dolan of the Coeur d'Alene Press published an article entitled "Black Like Me?" The article reported that Dolezal had "made claims in the media and elsewhere about her ethnicity, race and background that are contradicted by her biological parents", and went on to outline Dolezal's past hate crimes allegations, allegations of being abused with a baboon whip by her parents, misrepresentations about her race, and misrepresentations about the identity of her father. The article further stated that Dolezal, in a recent interview, "maintained that she is African-American. 'They can DNA test me if they want to,' she said. 'I would caution you on all of this. This is ridiculous.'" Ruthanne Dolezal was quoted in the article, stating that her daughter's allegation of being abused with a baboon whip was "a very false and malicious lie" and adding that it was "disturbing that she has become so dishonest".[92]
People later reported on the circumstances leading up to the publication of "Black Like Me?" According to People, Selle had learned of Dolezal's allegation that a package containing racist threats against her was delivered to the post office box of the Spokane, Washington, NAACP. Selle recalled that Dolezal had made similar allegations when she was living in Coeur d'Alene, and that the allegations were not substantiated. Sensing a potential story, Selle discovered that Dolezal had identified Wilkerson as her father; when contacted, Wilkerson contradicted this assertion. Dolan then discovered a photo of Dolezal's actual parents on the internet, and Selle made contact with them. Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal gave Selle pictures of "their naturally blond, fair-skinned daughter" and a copy of her birth certificate.[93]
The controversy surrounding Dolezal's ancestry and identity became national news.[10][94][95][96]
Reactions to the controversy
After the controversy regarding Dolezal's deception became public, the NAACP released a statement in support of her leadership.[84] However, a petition calling for her to resign her position as President of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP was launched.[97] Dolezal stepped down from her position at the NAACP on June 15, 2015.[52][53]
An investigation into Dolezal's behavior as chair of the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane concluded that she had engaged in "a pattern of misconduct".[14] On June 18, 2015, the Spokane City Council voted unanimously to remove Dolezal from her position as chair.[57][58]
On June 15, 2015, The Inlander (a publication to which Dolezal had contributed) announced that it had cut ties with Dolezal, saying that they felt "manipulated and deceived".[61][62]
The revelations about Dolezal's ancestry and her other claims provoked a range of reactions. Dolezal's critics argued that she committed cultural appropriation[98] and fraud.[98][99] However, others said that Dolezal's asserted identity should be respected.[100][101][102][103] Angela Schwendiman, a colleague of Dolezal's at Eastern Washington University, expressed her belief that Dolezal perceived herself as black internally, and that "she was only trying to match how she felt on the inside with her outside".[104] Similarly Cedric Bradley, a colleague of hers at Spokane's NAACP, suggested it mattered little to him whether Dolezal was actually black or not. What did matter to him was her proven track record in social justice work. "It's not about black and white", Bradley stated, "it's about what we can do for the community".[105]
In June 2015, psychologist Halford Fairchild asserted, "Rachel Dolezal is black because she identifies as black. Her identity was authentic, as far as I could tell."[106] Sociologist Ann Morning also defended Dolezal, saying: "We're getting more and more used to the idea that people's racial affiliation and identity and sense of belonging can change, or can vary, with different circumstances."[107]Washington Post journalist Krissah Thompson described her behavior as "white guilt played to its end". Thompson discussed the issue with psychologist Derald Wing Sue, an expert on racial identity, who suggested that Dolezal had become so fascinated by racism and racial justice issues that she "over-identified" with black people.[108]
Gender studies scholar Samantha Allen said, "Rachel Dolezal seems determined to appropriate not just blackness but the rhetoric of transgender identity as well" and called the analogy "spurious".[109]Washington Post journalist Jonathan Capehart suggested, "blackface remains highly racist, no matter how down with the cause a white person is".[110] Her brother Ezra Dolezal also compared his sister's behavior to blackface and said "she's basically creating more racism".[7]
In December 2017, Shawn Vestal of The Spokesman-Review called Dolezal "Spokane's undisputed heavyweight champion of racial appropriation".[111]
On news outlets and social media, Dolezal has been compared to Sacheen Littlefeather, an American woman who passed as Native American and took the stage on the 1973 45th Academy Awards (the Oscars), for the fact that they both falsely self-identified with a culture or ethnicity that was not theirs, for personal gain and promotion.[113][114]
Responses from Dolezal
Dolezal has asserted that her self-identification is genuine, even though it is not based on ancestry.[115]
Dolezal issued a statement on June 15, 2015, asserting that "challenging the construct of race is at the core of evolving human consciousness".[116] The following day, Dolezal told Today Show host Matt Lauer she was first described as "transracial" and "biracial" in articles about her human rights work, and chose not to correct them.[117] In the same interview, she said the way she presented herself was "not some freak, Birth of a Nation, mockery blackface performance".[118] Dolezal later said that she has never claimed to be "transracial", a term associated mainly with transracial adoption.[119] In a March 27, 2017, interview Dolezal said she identified as "trans-black".[120]
Dolezal alleged that the Spokane police chief had tired of dealing with her and had asked a private investigator to find out more information on her;[26] while the private investigator in question (Ted Pulver) acknowledged having investigated Dolezal, both he and the attorney for the police chief denied that the police chief had hired Pulver.[121]
In subsequent interviews, Dolezal stated that she considered herself to be black.[122] In a November 2, 2015, interview on The Real, Dolezal publicly acknowledged for the first time since the controversy began that she was "biologically born white to white parents", but maintained that she identified as black.[123][124][125]
In a February 2017 interview with The Guardian, Dolezal reasoned that race is more fluid than gender because race is an entirely social construct. She stated, "I feel that I was born with the essential essence of who I am, whether it matches my anatomy and complexion or not... I've never questioned being a girl or woman, for example, but whiteness has always felt foreign to me, for as long as I can remember." She added, "I didn't choose to feel this way or be this way, I just am. What other choice is there than to be exactly who we are?" Critics took issue with Dolezal's logic.[26]The Guardian columnist Claire Hynes wrote, "Dolezal is correct to argue that race is largely a social construct rather than a science", but "what defines people of colour is a limited ability to control how we are viewed, and a lack of freedom to 'write our own stories'."[126]
In 2018, a documentary entitled The Rachel Divide aired.[130] The film was directed by Laura Brownson and distributed by Netflix. The documentary explored Dolezal's 2015 racial identity controversy, the circumstances surrounding it, and its aftermath. The documentary received mixed reviews. Vogue gave the filmmaker credit for "balanced treatment of her deeply problematic subject matter".[131]The New Yorker noted the film's portrait of family dynamics. "Eventually, Brownson locates the real story: a primitive power game between mother and child, one that forecasts calamity. And it is in this mode that The Rachel Divide becomes a disturbing and enthralling drama of the American family, the pain of its truths and its fictions."[132]
A character based on Rachel was also portrayed in a fictional Broadway show in the series finale of Younger.[133] The main character of Mithu Sanyal's 2021 novel Identitti is modeled after Dolezal.[134]
According to a February 2015 article in The Easterner, Dolezal said she had suffered from cervical cancer in 2006, but had recovered by 2008.[63] Dolezal's brother, Ezra Dolezal, has stated that he does not believe this to be true.[42]
In October 2016, Dolezal legally changed her name to a Nigerian phrase that means "gift of God".[138][139] She later clarified that she still intends to use the name Rachel Dolezal "as her public persona", but that she changed her name to have a better chance of landing work.[140]
Welfare fraud
In February 2017, Dolezal was receiving food stamps. She said she was on the brink of homelessness and unable to find employment.[26]
In May 2018, Dolezal was charged with second-degree perjury and felony theft by welfare fraud by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.[141][142] The charges were filed after it was revealed that she had received $8,847 in food and childcare assistance between August 2015 and December 2017. During that period, she had received tens of thousands of dollars in unreported income, but had told the state that her income was less than $500 per month. State investigators discovered that, after her book was published, approximately $83,924 had been deposited into her bank account in monthly installments between August 2015 and September 2017. According to the Spokane County prosecutor's office, Dolezal could have received a sentence of up to 15 years in prison if she was found guilty.[143][144] She entered into a diversion agreement on March 25, 2019, agreeing to repay her assistance benefits and complete 120 hours of community service to avoid a trial.[145]
↑ Her surname is also spelled as Doležal.[8] She was born as Rachel Anne Dolezal and went by the name Rachel Moore during her marriage to Kevin Moore from 2000 to 2005. In 2016, Dolezal legally changed her name in Washington state superior court to Nkechi Amare Diallo but continues to use her birth name in professional life.[9]
↑ Herguth, Robert C. (June 5, 1996), "Hersey High School Seniors Head out with a Little Fork Fun", Daily Herald (Arlington Heights), Arlington Heights, Illinois: Douglas K. Ray
↑ Timmerman, Luke (June 21, 1998), "Discovering Juneteenth Spokane Festival Helps Educate Kids About Important Milestone In American History", The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington: William Stacey Cowles
↑ "Human Rights Advocate Finds Noose On Porch". KXLY. June 10, 2015. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015. A local human rights advocate says she's become a target of racism after she recently woke up to find a noose on her front porch.
↑ Dolezal, Rachel (March 11, 2015). "A Woman's Worth". The Inlander. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015. Black women stand at the intersection of both oppressions, and when our lives are measured, the weight of our legacy will attest that we are of equal value to black men, white men, white women and every other person on the planet.
↑ June 11; Selle, Jeff (June 11, 2015). "Black like me?". www.cdapress.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ Capehart, Jonathan (June 12, 2015). "The damage Rachel Dolezal has done". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015. Blackface remains highly racist, no matter how down with the cause a white person is.
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