Exclusive: Rachel Dolezal's parents discuss race claims
NAACP leader resigns amid accusations on 'The Kelly File'
The embattled Spokane, Wash., NAACP leader accused by her own parents of falsely portraying herself as black for years quit Monday, saying she remains committed to fighting for "what is right and good in this world."
Rachel Dolezal, whose career as a black civil rights leader began to unravel last week when her parents came forward to say their 37-year-old daughter is not African-American, canceled a chapter meeting Monday where she was expected to speak about the furor sparked over her racial identity. But other members of the organization said they still planned to gather Monday evening, and before the event could take place, Dolezal posted her resignation on Facebook.
"This is not me quitting; this is a continuum," Dolezal wrote. "It's about moving the cause of human rights and the Black Liberation Movement along the continuum from Resistance to Chattel Slavery to Abolition to Defiance of Jim Crow to the building of Black Wall Street to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and into a future of self-determination and empowerment."
Dolezal complained in her message that, while serious problems plague Spokane's black community, "the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity."
Nowhere did Dolezal, who appeared in Baltimore with African-American leaders to decry the racially charged death in April of Freddie Gray, deny her apparent racial ruse.
Members were planning to demand that Dolezal step down. Kitara Johnson, a member of the chapter, organized an online petition calling for Dolezal to take a leave of absence.
"It's not about race, it's about integrity," she said. "If you're a leader, you have to have integrity. She clearly lacks integrity. The other piece is credibility."
Dolezal was elected president of the local NAACP chapter about six months ago.
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.
Ruthanne Dolezal, Rachel Dolezal's mother, said the family's ancestry is Czech, Swedish and German, with a trace of Native American heritage. She produced a copy of her daughter's Montana birth certificate listing herself and Larry Dolezal as Rachel's parents.
The city of Spokane is investigating whether Dolezal lied about her ethnicity when she applied to be on the police board. 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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