Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president who has been in the middle of a racial storm in recent times over accusations that she has been falsely misrepresenting herself as black, recently had an exclusive live interview with TODAY’s Matt Lauer, where she admitted that she had started identifying as black at the age of five.
“I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and black curly hair,” she told Lauer. But she insisted she never deceived anyone as numerous critics have suggested.
“I do take exception to that because it’s a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of, are you black or white?” she said.
“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,” she said.
“I hope that that can drive at the core of definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, self determination, personal agency and, ultimately, empowerment.”
Watch the exclusive video interview:
When Dolezal was asked about the changes in her physical appearance as it relates to darkening her skin color, she responded:
“I certainly don’t stay out of the sun.”
Dolezal’s interview came less than a day after she resigned from her position as president of the NAACP’s Spokane, Washington chapter on Monday amid controversies surrounding her race and claims of being black, while her parents outed her as white. Click here if you missed it!
Source: Today News
