Rachel Dolezal has been the topic of conversation since it was revealed that she has been pretending to be Black for nearly a decade. Many people have been waiting for Dolezal to speak, on a national stage, on this issue, and just a day after announcing her resignation from the position of president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter, she sits down with Matt Lauer on The Today Show.
During the interview, Dolezal reiterates that she identifies herself as Black, and that as a child, she never really identified with being Caucasian, despite the ethnicity of both her biological parents. Dolezhal says that she use to do self-portraits with brown crayons–never peach–and felt comfortable portraying herself as Black, even at a young age. Her brother, Ezra Dolezhal, shut down her memory however, saying that his sister just began identifying herself as African-American three years ago, and her brown crayon story is false. One thing Ezra does agree with, is that his sister began showing interests in Black culture while she was still in high school.
In the interview, Dolezal also says that she would do it all again.
As much as this discussion has somewhat been at my expense recently and in a very sort of viciously inhumane way come out of the woodwork, the discussion is really about what it is to be human. I hope that that can drive at the core of definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, self determination, personal agency and, ultimately, empowerment.
To watch the full interview, tune into All in With Chris Hayes at 8PM tonight.
– Ballah-moni Kollie (@Gottadream87)
photo credit: Today.com
