Black human rights activist in the US was white

The scandalous exposure of a human rights activist, who for nearly 20 has been posing as a black woman for years, caused a heated debate in the United States.

As head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Spokane, WA, 37-year-old Rachel Dolezal has earned a reputation as an active champion of black rights. A woman quite often commented on what is happening with blacks in the local media and read lectures in educational institutions. In her speeches, the human rights activist repeatedly repeated stories about the experienced humiliation caused by skin color.

However, it turned out that Rachel Dolezal has nothing to do with the Negroid race. She was born white parents, she has Swedish, Czech and German roots. All the years of her activity she darkened the skin with cosmetics, and received curly hair with the help of a perm.

Journalists suspected the activist of lying—inconsistencies were found in several of her stories, and photographs of her teenage years were also discovered.

The investigation led media representatives to Montana, where the human rights activist’s parents live. Rutt-Ann and Larry Dolezal have confirmed that their daughter is white and that the story she tells is fictitious. The father did not rule out that the reason for his daughter’s act could have been interracial upbringing - their family had four adopted black children. One way or another, the relationship between the parents and Rachel was always tense, and about 10 years ago they stopped communicating completely.

“A lot of what our daughter did doesn’t seem rational.” The method she chose would hardly have been used by a sane person, CNN quotes Larry Dolezal as saying.

At first, the human rights activist tried to deny accusations of deception and even threatened her relatives with a lawsuit for libel. As evidence, she presented a photo with a young man adopted by her parents, whom she passed off as her own son, as well as an advertising photo with an elderly African-American man - she called him his biological father.

But then the woman changed her tactics, saying that despite being Caucasian, she identifies herself as a black since childhood, drawing an analogy with transgender people.

Rachel Dolezal was dismissed. The association’s management stated that the dismissal was not related to skin color, but was caused by a scandal.

In a farewell posting on the organization’s Facebook page, the human rights activist wrote that she would continue to promote African Americans and fight for human rights.

The public in the United States, after what happened, was divided into two camps. Opponents say that Rachel Dolezal can no longer be involved in advocacy, as she was deceiving everyone for her own career. Supporters say that, working in the NAACP, the activist has achieved considerable success in the fight for the rights of blacks.