Rolling Out

Rachel Dolezal responds to ‘transracial’ criticism

Photo credit: Facebook
Photo credit: Rachel Dolezal via Facebook

Rachel Dolezal, one of the most prominent people in Spokane, Washington’s, Black community is under fire, after her estranged mother claimed she’s been “dishonest and deceptive with her identity” for the last decade. When questioned by Jeff Humphrey of KXLY4 about whether or not her parents are White, Dolezal responded, “That’s a very … I mean, I don’t know what you’re implying.”


“I don’t understand the question,” Dolezal continued as she walked off camera, while Humphrey continued to press for answers “Are your parents, are they White?”


As you can imagine, the Black community went for Dolezal’s jugular, flooding social media with a wide variety of criticism, slander and memes.

Now, Dolezal, 37, has a message for her critics. In a new interview following her outing, the president of the Spokane NAACP flat out tells her detractors to f— off: “I don’t give two sh–s what you guys think. You are so far done, and out, of my life.”


She went on to explain that the only people owed an explanation are the Black community and her NAACP board. “It’s more important for me to clarify that with the Black community and with my executive board than it really is to explain it to a community that, quite frankly, don’t [sic] really understand the definitions of race and ethnicity.

“I actually don’t like the term African American. I prefer Black, and I would say that if I was asked I would definitely say that yes I do consider myself to be Black.”

Dolezal, who has identified herself as at least partly African American, has a Montana birth certificate that states otherwise, identifying her parents as Caucasian. “We are her birth parents,” Lawrence Dolezal told CNN on Friday. “We do not understand why she feels it’s necessary to misrepresent her ethnicity.”

Dolezal’s story sparks many questions. First of all, what provoked her to lie about her race? Why are her parents coming forward now? After all, Dolezal has been perpetrating this fraud for more than a decade. Needless to say, one thing is clear; Dolezal needs to seek professional help to deal with whatever demons led her to create a false identity.

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