Rachel Dolezal resigns NAACP post after claiming to be black backlash
Bruce Jenner can claim to be woman but Rachel Dolezal learned that “claiming to be black” is an entirely inappropriate move and has now resigned her role the president of an NAACP chapter in Washington State on Monday – days after her ethnic identity became a national controversy.
“It is with complete allegiance to the cause of racial and social justice and the NAACP that I step aside from the Presidency and pass the baton to my Vice President, Naima Quarles-Burnley,” she wrote.
Dolezal said that her administration in Spokane has been dedicated to fighting against injustices that face the African-American community, such as police brutality, biased school curriculums and economic disenfranchisement.
“And yet, the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity,” she wrote.
According to Dolezal, challenging the “construct of race” is central to “evolving human consciousness.”
Outed by her parents, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, a white couple from Montana, who identified themselves as her biological parents.
They said that their daughter is mainly of German and Czech descent, despite having identified herself publicly as biracial.
The NAACP stands behind her advocacy record and that a person’s race does not qualify or disqualify him or her from taking leadership roles within the organization.
Dolezal received her master’s degree from Howard University and teaches Africana studies at Eastern Washington University.
