Rachel Dolezal: I'm not an African-American, but I'm black
Rachel Dolezal was briefly in the national spotlight in June after she stepped down as president of her local NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, amid questions about her race. After also losing her university teaching gig, she admitted in a new Vanity Fair interview that she's strapped for cash and struggling to make ends meet. But despite the hardships that come with the fallout from a white person claiming to be black, Dolezal isn't letting up on her claim:
I just feel like I didn’t mislead anybody; I didn't deceive anybody. If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe that's more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity or honesty, because I wouldn't say I'm African-American, but I would say I'm black, and there's a difference in those terms. [Vanity Fair]
"It's not a costume," she says. "It's not something that I can put on and take off anymore." Anymore?
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
