‘I Didn’t Feel Like I Really Owed Him An Explanation,’ Says Rachel Dolezal Of Walking Out On Interviewer Who Probed Her On Race
Rachel Dolezal gained national attention in 2015 when it was revealed that she was a woman of predominantly European genetic make-up who – it’s alleged – had been portraying herself, personally and professionally, as a bi-racial woman of African American descent.
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During an interview in her capacity as President of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP that a television reporter, showing Dolezal a photograph of her father, Larry, asked the civil rights advocate whether she was African American. Dolezal walked away from the reporter without answering the question.
“I didn’t feel like I really owed him an explanation,” says Dolezal in a one-on-one interview with Dr. Phil airing Monday. “Maybe I should’ve said — it’s a private matter, a personal topic I don’t want to talk about. I could’ve said that before walking away.”
Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal later gave multiple media interviews – that gained national attention – about their daughter’s biological origins. They maintained that Rachel is their biological offspring, and of predominantly German and Czech descent. Amidst the fallout, she resigned from the NAACP and being dismissed from her job as a part-time instructor of African Studies at Eastern Washington University.
Larry and Ruthanne provided a birth certificate and childhood photos, they say as proof of her heritage – and her parentage. Why then, does she say she continues to identify as Black?” And what is her true relationship to a man named Albert who Dolezal has referred to multiple times as her “dad?”
Tune in to Monday’s Dr. Phil. Find out where you can watch here.
Rachel Dolezal recently penned the memoir, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World. The book is available now.
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