In the United States, a white professor has been posing as an African American for years

Jessica Krug, an activist teaching African American history at George Washington University, wrote a post-disclosure in which she revealed that she had been pretending to be black from different parts of America for years. The Guardian. In fact, she is a white woman with Jewish roots from Kansas City.

Photo: video frame YouTube / Archivol

Previously, Jessica Krug received financial support from cultural institutions such as the Schomburg Center for Black Cultural Research for a book she wrote on the transatlantic slave trade. The circle has also published several books and essays on blacks and black culture. According to a Medium post allegedly written by Krug herself, her career was based on "the poisonous soil of lies." Some media outlets that published her work began to delete posts after the revelations.

“Throughout my adult life, I increasingly avoided my life experiences as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City, under various assumed identities with a black identity I had no right to claim: first North African black, then American , after a black woman from the Bronx with Caribbean roots,” she wrote.

In the book The Circle "Fugitives of our time", published before her confession, she allegedly writes about herself: "My ancestors, unknown, unnamed, shed blood for the sake of a future, about which they did not even know if it could and would exist. Those whose names I cannot name for their own safety, whether in my area, in Angola or in Brazil. "

In activist circles, she called herself Jessica La Bomballera or Jessa Bombalera, and she could be seen at a public hearing in New York on police brutality this June.

“I'm Jessa Bombalera. I'm here in El Barrio, East Harlem. “You’ve probably heard about this because you sold my damn neighborhood to developers,” she said. “I want to call out all those white New Yorkers who waited with us for four hours to be able to speak and then didn’t give in to black, native New Yorkers.”

Reaction of friends and students

Those who knew the Circle as La Bombalera expressed their shock on social media.

"I'm overwhelmed and still trying to process my emotions but mostly feel betrayed, stupid and bitter in many ways," Robert Jones Jr. said on Twitter.

Back in 2018, Jones posted his conversations with Krug in Material for Marginalized Communities.

Screenwriter Hari Ziyad, who was among Jessica's friends, suggested that the reason for Jessica Krug's self-exposure was that her secret had already been revealed. Air force.

“Jess Krug is a person whom, until this morning, I called a friend. But today she called and told me everything that was written here. And she did not do it of her own free will,” Ziyad wrote. “But I always knew there was something wrong with her.” So I kept her at arm's length, but still close enough that she could hurt the dark-skinned people around me. I apologize to a lot of people."

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One of Jessica Krug's students, 21-year-old Aria Sakon, said she was shocked by the teacher's self-exposure. The girl said that in the coming days she was supposed to start a course on the history of Latin America, which the professor reads.

“It’s just heartbreaking that these students came with a vested interest to learn about the history and heritage of Latin America,” Aria Sakon said. “We all had a lot of faith in her.”

Her current neighbor in the Bronx, Anna Anderson, told DailyMail.com that Krug called her "white trash" and said Anderson would "gentrify" the neighborhood by leaving. After an argument over bicycles, Krug asked Anderson, “Do you know what the police do to black people like me?” - quotes The Daily Mail.

Why did it happen

Krug refers to her traumatized childhood and mental health issues in her post, but says that it can't be used to justify her behavior.

“I've fought some inhuman mental health demons my entire life as an adult and child. Mental health issues probably explain why I initially adopted a false identity when I was young and why I continued and developed it for so long.

But mental health issues can never, ever explain, justify, or condone the fact that, despite the regular criticism of every non-Black person who appropriates Black wealth and culture, my false identity was entirely created from the lives of Black people." - she wrote.

In her Medium post, Krug said: “I have thought about putting an end to these lies many times over the years, but my cowardice has always been stronger than my ethics. I know what is good and what is bad. I know the story. I know strength. I'm a coward. There is no ignorance, no innocence, nothing to demand, nothing to defend. I've been doing everything wrong for years."

“I didn’t live a double life. There is no parallel form of my adult life associated with white people, the white community, or an alternative white identity. “I lived this lie completely, without a plan or exit strategy,” she writes. “I built only this life, a life in which I acted with a radical sense of ethics, right and wrong, and with anger rooted in black power, an ideology that every person should support, but which I have no opportunity to claim as my own.” .

She admitted that it was unlikely to repair any relationship, given the extent of her lies.

“I've burned all my bridges and don't expect any of my relationships to be fireproof. “I would never ask for or expect forgiveness,” we read in Jessica’s post. “To everyone who trusted me, who fought for me, who vouched for me, who loved me, who feels shock, betrayal, rage and deep pain and confusion: I beg you, please do not question your own judgment.” You weren't naive. I blatantly cheated. I have a very clear and loud conscience, but I acted as if I didn’t have one.”

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University reaction

George Washington University, where Krug taught a course on African and Caribbean history, said it was looking into the circumstances of the blog post, but declined to comment further.

The case has parallels with the story of Rachel Dolez, a white activist who also passed as black. The general public first learned about her in 2015, when her parents announced their daughter’s white origin. The former activist and director of Africana studies also passed for years as an African-American woman, and when exposed by her parents, said she “identified as black” and became “the first trans black person.”

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