Story highlights Dolezal addresses comparisons with Caitlyn Jenner's identity journey

She has penned a book, "In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World"

(CNN) Rachel Dolezal, a former NAACP leader from Spokane, Washington, who made headlines in 2015 after she was exposed as a white woman who had been representing herself as black, said Saturday that she still believes race is a "social construct."

Two years on, Dolezal has written a memoir, titled "In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World," in which she describes identifying as black at a very early age. She told CNN's Michael Smerconish that her aunt once made her a "black Raggedy Ann doll."

"She kind of recognized and seemed to understand my affinity for black is beautiful and black is inspirational," Dolezal said.

Asked by Smerconish if she sees parallels between what she dubs her "trans-black" identity and Caitlyn Jenner , the transgender former Olympic champion, Dolezal said that "a lot of people have drawn that parallel."

"I want to be careful because certainly every category of our identity is, you know, with its own unique circumstances and challenges," Dolezal said.

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