Rachel Dolezal: ‘I Definitely Am Not White’

On NBC Nightly News Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie sat down with Rachel Dolezal, the former leader of Spokane, Washington’s NAACP chapter. As most know by now, Dolezal resigned from her post after she was accused of being a white woman pretending to be black.

Dolezal remained adamant that she sees herself as black, “I definitely am not white. Nothing about being white describes who I am. So, what’s the word for it? The closest thing that I can come to is if you’re black or white, I’m black. I’m more black than I am white.”

While Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal have claimed to be her biological parents, and there has been little evidence to doubt them, Rachel Dolezal isn’t so sure, saying, “I know who raised me. I haven’t had a DNA test. There’s been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne are my biological parents…I’m not necessarily saying that I can prove they’re not, but I don’t actually know I can prove they are. I mean the birth certificate was issued a month and a half after I’m born. Certainly there were no medical witnesses to my birth.”

Many have pointed to Dolezal’s change in appearance from when she was a teen when they accuse her of being deceitful. She said she’s experimented with her hair, but when it comes to her skin color she hasn’t had medical procedures done, “I don’t know necessarily if my skin color has changed. It depends on the season, right? …Some days I’ll have bronzer or a glow or other days, I don’t….I just want to feel beautiful. And this is how I feel beautiful.”

Savannah Guthrie noted that Dolezal’s 13-year-old son Franklin saw the interview and asked to share his thoughts, which he did, saying, “I’ve always felt the max proud of her. No matter what she does, I’m going to be proud of her. I’ve always felt like she deserved more. She deserved to be worldwide known, but not like this. Not as a liar or deceiver, she should be known as a hero, a person that’s done so much.”