Spokane NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal steps down

Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY, and KREM-TV, Spokane, Wash. | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Rachel Dolezal, Spokane NAACP leader, steps down Rachel Dolezal, the embattled president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP, stepped down from her post amid controversy surrounding her racial identity.



SPOKANE, Wash. — Rachel Dolezal, who stepped down Monday as president of the Spokane branch of the NAACP, was expected to break her silence on television Tuesday morning amid questions surrounding her racial identity.

Dolezal was scheduled to appear on NBC's TODAY show with Matt Lauer and also was slated to do interviews with Savannah Guthrie for NBC Nightly News, Melissa Harris-Perry for MSNBC, and NBCBLK, NBCNews.com's African-American vertical, the network announced.

The interviews will mark the first instances that Dolezal, who has publicly claimed to be black, has spoken publicly on the developments since news stories went viral last week detailing how Dolezal's parents say she is white.

On Monday night, Dolezal's parents told CNN that when she was growing up, she gave no indication that she might want to take on a new racial identity.

"I think there's a demonstration of being irrational and being disconnected from reality," Ruthanne Dolezal told the network.

Said Dolezal's father, Lawrence Dolezal, "Many of the things she's done have been irrational."

The comments were the latest in a situation that has spun almost out of control in just a few days, stirring discussions across the country about what constitutes race and whether one has the right to adopt a new identity if they have not lived the experience. The developments prompted Dolezal, 37, to issue a statement Monday announcing that she would step down from her NAACP post.

In a statement the chapter posted on Facebook on Monday, Dolezal wrote: "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."

In the lengthy statement, Dolezal mentioned some of the issues and concerns of the Spokane chapter, including police brutality, economic disenfranchisement and health inequities. She noted the dialogue had shifted from the chapter's work to her personal identity.

On Monday evening, Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the Baltimore-based civil rights organization, issued a statement urging people to focus on "the real work of the NAACP and the real challenges to our democracy."

Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart also released a statement, making reference to Dolezal's position as chair of the independent citizen Police Ombudsman Commission. "We have referred the matter to the city's Ethics Commission for a determination as to whether the answers she gave on her application for the volunteer position violated the city's Code of Ethics," the joint statement read.

As the country reeled over the news that the former NAACP leader had resigned, court papers emerged Monday that showed Dolezal sued Howard University for discrimination while she was a graduate student in 2001. The suit in which Dolezal says black students were favored over her was ultimately thrown out.

In papers obtained by The Smoking Gun website, Dolezal, then Rachel Moore, claimed she was not only passed over for the teaching assistant job, but also had an application rejected for an instructor's post and had scholarship aid denied while she was a student.

Dolezal based her claim on D.C. human rights law.

Dolezal's adoptive brother also made statements Monday that added further credence to accusations that Dolezal sought to fake her racial identity.

Rachel Dolezal's brother calls her actions "blackface" Rachel Dolezal, the 37-year-old former NAACP official under intense scrutiny for apparently faking black ethnicity, is the target of a damning indictment from her adopted brother Ezra, who is of African-American ethnicity.

Ezra Dolezal told CNN on Monday that three years ago, the former NAACP leader took him aside and asked him "not to blow her cover" about the race of her father.

Ezra Dolezal said his sister was on her way to Spokane to start a new life.

"She told me not to tell anybody about Montana or her family over there," Ezra Dolezal said.

He told the news organization that he saw the current implosion coming.

"Instead of sticking to a simple story, she's been trying to make this really complex and it finally got too big for her to handle," he said.

Dolezal came under national scrutiny last week when her parents said she was a white woman of German and Czech ancestry. Ruthanne and Lawrence Dolezal said Thursday that she has been deceiving people into thinking she is African American since 2004.

They said their daughter has always identified with African-American culture and had black adopted siblings. They said she went to school in Mississippi, was married at one point to a black man, and was part of a primarily black community.

Dolezal has been credited with energizing the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since she took the helm in January.

But some of the increased publicity came from accusations that the civil rights organization's chapter had received threatening letters and packages in its post office box starting in February.

In Monday's statement, Dolezal said she will continue to fight for human rights.

"Please know I will never stop fighting for human rights and will do everything in my power to help and assist, whether it means stepping up or stepping down, because this is not about me. It's about justice. This is not me quitting; this is a continuum."

On Sunday, she sent an email out to NAACP members stating that Monday's meeting was canceled. When one member raIsed questions, Dolezal cited her ability to cancel meetings as the Spokane NAACP president. She said the meeting was postponed "due to the need to continue discussion with regional and national NAACP leaders."

Before Sunday's cancellation announcement, Spokane NAACP members started a petition calling for her to step down that had more than 500 signatures as of Monday morning. Some had planned to protest outside Monday's meeting.

"This is not about race," said Kitara Johnson, a member of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP and organizer of the petition. "This is about integrity."

Contributing: Kate Royals and Jimmie Gates, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger; and Shawn Chitnis, Briana Bermensolo, Raishad Hardnett, Taylor Viydo and Lindsay Nadrich KREM-TV, Spokane, Wash.

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