Parents out 'black' NAACP leader as white woman

Shawn Chitnis, Taylor Viydo and Lindsay Nadrich | KREM-TV, Spokane, Wash.

Show Caption Hide Caption NAACP leader: 'I do consider myself to be black' Rachel Dolezal, president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Wash., responded to her biological parents' claims that she's actually white.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A recent investigation into racially charged threats made toward the president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane have raised questions beyond who made the threats.

On Thursday, the chapter president's parents claimed she had been deceiving people.

Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said Thursday that they want people to know the truth, including that their daughter Rachel Dolezal is Caucasian. The Dolezals said their daughter is specifically German and Czech.

Rachel Dolezal says she doesn't acknowledge her biological parents Dolezal told KREM 2 News that she does not speak to her parents because of an on-going legal issue.

Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said their daughter has always identified with the African-American culture and had black siblings who were adopted. They said she went to school in Mississippi and was part of a primarily African-American community.

The Dolezals said their daughter married and later divorced a black man. They said after the divorce in 2004, she began identifying differently. She started claiming to be partially African American and the daughter of biracial parents. They have noticed a change in her physical appearance, but do not know how that occurred.

"Rachel has wanted to be somebody she's not. She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African-American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true," said Ruthanne Dolezal.

The couple said they do not have a problem with Rachel advocating for a civil rights group for African Americans, rather that she is being deceptive about it.

Her parents said she distanced herself from them and has not spoken to them recently.

Rachel Dolezal said she does not speak to her parents because of an on-going legal issue.

"There is a lawsuit that's been going on for almost a year, once I supported my sister and allegations against her older brother," she said.

Dolezal said she does not consider her biological parents her real parents.

In addressing public sentiment that she misrepresented her race, Dolezal said, "I can understand that. And like I said, it's more important to me to clarify that to the black community, and with my executive board, than it really is for me to explain it to a community that I quite frankly don't think understands the definitions of race and ethnicity."

In a statement released Friday, the Baltimore-based civil rights organization said, "NAACP Spokane Washington Branch President Rachel Dolezal is enduring a legal issue with her family, and we respect her privacy in this matter. One's racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership. The NAACP Alaska-Oregon-Washington State Conference stands behind Ms. Dolezal's advocacy record."

THREATENING LETTERS

Earlier this year, the Spokane Police Department began investigating hate mail that Dolezal claimed she found in the P.O. Box for the Spokane chapter of the NAACP.

Dolezal said there were pictures of lynchings and references to local cases concerning race in the envelope.

During the course of the investigation, the Spokane Police Department noticed that there were important marks missing from the package.

Although delivered to a post office box, there was no date stamp or bar code on the envelope, according to a police report.

Postal officials told police officers that a letter or package would never be put in a mailbox purposefully without these things even if it was hand delivered to the post office. Postal workers said it was possible the letter could have gotten stuck to another one and missed the scanner and postal marking. But they said the chances of this happening were extremely low.

Postal employees said the only other way for a unprocessed letter to land in a P.O. Box would be if it were placed there by someone with a key or a postal employee was involved.

'Black' NAACP leader outed as white woman by parents The leader of the Spokane NAACP falsely portrays herself as black, according to her family. A recent investigation into racially charged threats made toward the president have raised more questions about who made the threats.

Police have ruled out postal employees as suspects.

Dolezal said she does not believe anyone within the NAACP could be responsible.

Police continue to examine the envelope for any clues to help identify who sent it. At the time she reported the letter, Dolezal told officers that most of these types of incidents were caused by people affiliated with right wing groups in the area.

In May, Dolezal claimed she had received another racially charged letter — this one sent to the NAACP's office in downtown Spokane. She said it looked like it was from the same person who sent the earlier letter.

"Hate language sent through mail and social media along with credible threats continue to be a serious issue for our units in the Pacific Northwest and across the nation," the NAACP said in its statement. "We take all threats seriously and encourage the FBI and the Department of Justice to fully investigate each occurrence."

These letters are not the first time Dolezal has reported being a victim of a crime. She said she has been the victim of burglary, death threats and in two cases, nooses left on her property in Spokane and Idaho.