Spokane City Council votes 6-0 to remove Rachel Dolezal from police commission
On Thursday, the City Council in Spokane, Washington, unanimously voted to remove controversial former NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal from her position on the police oversight commission.
Last week, Dolezal's parents came forward to say their daughter, who was president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, had been saying she was black when she was "Caucasian by birth." Dolezal appeared on several television shows, stating she "identified as black," and ultimately resigned from her NAACP position.
Dolezal was accused of sharing confidential information about people who made complaints against police during public meetings while she served as a commissioner on Spokane's volunteer Police Ombudsman Commission, NBC News reports. Along with two other commissioners, she was also accused of creating an intimidating workplace environment. She refused to resign, and the City Council voted 6-0 to remove her from the position. In a statement released Wednesday, Dolezal said she did not do anything wrong and said the city government was on a campaign of "harassment and sabotage" against the commission.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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