‘Black’ African-American activist quits group over race issue
Her mother, Ruthanne Dolezal of Troy, Montana, told reporters she has had no contact with her daughter in several years. She said Rachel began to “disguise herself” as black after her parents adopted four black children more than a decade ago.
Rachel Dolezal initially dismissed the controversy, saying it arose from a legal dispute that has divided the family, and repeatedly sidestepped questions about her race. “That question is not as easy as it seems,” she said. “There’s a lot of complexities.”
Late last week, the national NAACP stood by her, saying “one’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership.”
But Dolezal came under increasing pressure from local chapter members to resign.
Kitara Johnson, an NAACP member in Spokane who has been calling on Dolezal to step down, welcomed the resignation as “the best thing that can happen right now.”
Johnson said she hopes Dolezal remains a member of the organization.
“She knows her stuff,” Johnson said.
Dolezal has been widely credited with reinvigorating Spokane’s moribund NAACP chapter. In resigning, she boasted that under her leadership, the chapter acquired an office, increased membership, improved finances and made other improvements.
A multicultural group of a few dozen people rallied in downtown Spokane on Monday night in support of the NAACP. All held signs saying “Integrity Matters.”
Dennis Mitchell, of Spokane, who led the rally, said, “It’s about forgiveness tonight, and we want to forge ahead.”
“It feels like the ultimate betrayal,” Angela Jones, an NAACP member from Spokane, said of Dolezal after the rally. “Why would you not be honest?”
The controversy drew conflicting views from other NAACP leaders.
“I care that she was trying to make the world a better place every day,” said Frank Hawkins Jr., the NAACP president in Las Vegas. “The color of a person’s skin does not matter.”
Don Harris, a white man who heads the NAACP in the Phoenix area, criticized her, saying: “What do you gain in saying, ‘I’m an African-American’ when you’re not?”
“The NAACP is not concerned with the racial identity of our leadership,” Cornell William Brooks, national president of the NAACP, said in a statement Monday. Dolezal “has decided to resign to ensure that the Spokane branch remains focused on fighting for civil and human rights.”
Dolezal has not returned numerous calls to her home and offices from The Associated Press.
Dolezal was fired Monday as a weekly columnist for The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Spokane’s alternative weekly, and her contract as an instructor at Eastern Washington University was not renewed.
City officials are investigating whether she lied about her ethnicity when she landed an appointment to Spokane’s police oversight board. On her application, she said her ethnic origins included white, black and American Indian.
Dolezal’s parents appeared on the “Today” show Monday and said they hope to reconcile with their daughter.
“We hope that Rachel will get the help that she needs to deal with her identity issues. Of course, we love her,” her mother said.
