Rachel Dolezal's Adopted Brother Claims She Told Him Not to 'Blow Her Cover'

[RandySF]

In a new interview, one of Rachel Dolezal's adopted siblings calls her apparently years-long disguise as biracial "basically blackface" and said she asked him years earlier not to "blow her cover."

"She just told me, 'Over here, I'm going to be considered black, and I have a black father. Don't blow my cover,' " Ezra Dolezal, who is of African-American descent, told BuzzFeed.

Rachel's parents first outed her to local media in Spokane, Washington, where she is the head of the local NAACP; and they have said she has no trace of African American ethnicity.

Ezra offered this theory for Rachel's alleged deception: He claims she said she was mistreated as one of the few white students at Howard University, a historically black college, where she graduated in 2002.

"She used to tell us that teachers treated her differently than other people and a lot of them acted like they didn’t want her there," Ezra told Buzzfeed. "Because of her work in African-American art, they thought she was a black student during her application, but they ended up with a white person."


http://www.people.com/article/rachel-dolezal-brother-ezra-interview

[JustAnotherGen]

1. It's getting more bizarre

[politicaljunkie41910]

2. As a black woman, I don't care what her ethnic background is but I do feel sorry for her for who she

has as parents. As the mother of three grown children, I would never have outed one of my children to the press because they were 'pretending' to be something they were not, if they weren't hurting anyone in the process. If my kids did something that I disagreed with or even was hurtful to me personally, if they were not committing a crime or planning to commit an extremely bad crime, or physically planning to do something which would bring harm to themselves or others, I'd keep my mouth shut and handle it within the family. For what it's worth, I think she looks like she could be black. Her parents said she began pretending when she was a teenager.
Her wide nose as a teen looked more black than what beauty magazines reflect of the American white standard of beauty in a nose, which is why most of Michael Jackson's family had theirs surgically altered.

I've tried to think of why someone in her situation would do something like this and the only thing I could come up with is that she must have had a need to fit in. After all, we are all familiar with all the rights and privileges that come with being black in America. My guess is she wanted to fit in with her four black adopted siblings and/or at college and since black people come in all shades, what may have started as a little white lie to fit in got out of hand and she didn't have the courage to fess up, but who the hell cares.

The NAACP says she did nothing but try and help the black community since she's been with the organization, and since being black is not a requirement for working at the NAACP, quite the contrary, it's original leaders of the organization were white, than as I said before, who the hell cares.

[JI7]

5. they only seemed to out her after her lies were getting worse

When she made up stories of abuse and attacks

[DawgHouse]

6. +1

[RandySF]

7. Mabye, but

when your kid says she was abused by a non-existant stepfather with a "baboon whip", claims her adopted brother as her son and a different man as her father, you might feel differently.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

35. Her parents were contacted by the press.

A reporter asked them point blank if they were her parents and if they were white.

The reporter had already been informed of her true ethnicity. People from her home town had discovered the ruse. In this day and age it's hard to get away with things like that.

She was hurting people. She told people her real (white) father was her step father and he whipped her like a slave. She tried to pass off one of her brothers as her son and recently stated she has full custody of him - even though he's an adult. If my child turned on me like this, saying his real dad was his stepfather and he whipped him etc, I wouldn't cover up or tells lies for them. I'd tell the truth if asked.

I don't believe it was wanting to fit in with her 4 adopted brothers because they were much younger. It seems she ran into some racism at Howard and maybe wanted to fit in there.

I don't think it was just an innocent white lie. After-all, she filled out a job application stating she was part AA. It's not like she was rocking that hairstyle/tan and someone made the mistake of thinking she was bi-racial/black and she went along with it. I think she has a personality disorder of some kind.

I don't care what race someone thinks they are, or wants to be, what bothers me is that she was fabricating hate crimes and she also got a position with the city of Spokane that could have gone to someone who was black/Native American.

[cwydro]

36. Yes.

You said it.

[Nay]

48. That's where I'm at. Her parents pretty much left her alone until she said things that

directly involved them, and then they didn't lie. They did the right thing.

It's been my opinion all along that she has a personality disorder of some kind; I've known a couple of people who made up everything about their lives, and they were not well. I'm not black, but I can't imagine that black people would appreciate her talking about how awful white people are when she is a white person who just snagged a job (or a couple of jobs) that might have gone to an actual black person. I don't fault her for all the work she had done in the NAACP, since she seems to have revived that chapter. But when she started lying about getting death threats, pretending her brother was her son, that some other guy was her father, well, she has gone around the bend mentally.

[bravenak]

3. Strange stuff

[Egnever]

13. Agreed

A very strange story.

[Starry Messenger]

4. I read this article at Jezebel

It suggested that her art was kind of controversial because she was a white artist using Black people in her work without any kind of examination of the fact that her lens wasn't really coming from the Black community.

There are non-Black students at HBCUs, so I don't think there was so much shock at her being white, just that she's early on, appropriating imagery and themes.

I'm just speculating, but I went to art school and I can imagine that kind of conversation taking place.

http://jezebel.com/when-rachel-dolezal-attended-howard-university-she-was-1710941472

"I know her and I remember her husband who went to medical school here,” he told Jezebel after he confirmed her graduation date over the phone. “All of her time has been controversial here, like when she presented her thesis.”

Dolezal’s final thesis was a series of paintings presented from the perspective of a black man and the late Dean Tritobia Benjamin, a formidable scholar whose specialty was black women in the arts, wanted to know how Dolezal felt qualified to tell this type of story as a white woman."

[Cooley Hurd]

8. So, one asks to self-identify with a group...

...but is rejected?

I've already been banned from the African American group for suggesting such a thing, but why is one's self-identity abhorrent to one group and not another??

Can we PLEASE ADDRESS THIS before my 13 year DUership is called into question?

Holy fuck...

[RandySF]

9. I can try.

1. She identified a man as her father who wasn't.
2. She said her family was bi-racial but wasn't.
3. She said she lived in South Africa for a time but has never set foot in the continent.
4. She identified her adopted African American brother as her biological son.
5. She claims she was abuse by a stepfather even though her parents have never divorced.
6. She claims she was beaten by an African "baboon whip" despite accounts to the contrary.

[Cooley Hurd]

11. Fail...

Did you address the primary reasons? Um, no...

[RandySF]

25. We've truly jumped the shark

When we can rationalize fraudulent behavior like this.

[noiretextatique]

17. when did she ASK?

and who would she ask? it is all really silly because she IS accepted. she's been a civil rights activist (and that doesn't just apply to black people, btw) for several years. she works for the NAACP. she has done all of that as the white woman that she is, so why do i need to accept her delusion of being black? it's not necessary to appreciate her for the work she's done. notice i use the word appreciate. i don't feel the need to be grateful because i assume she is a civil rights activist because she believes in civil rights, not because she is expecting never-ending gratitude from black people. i do think some of the people in her life might feel she deceived them, and i can certainly understand that.

[Cooley Hurd]

18. Did you ask HER?

Of course you didn't. Another message board warrior.

[noiretextatique]

20. what an idiotic response: not all black people know each other, you know

FYI. and why in the fuck would i ask her? you are the one claiming she asked, so again...who did she ask? perhaps she petitioned Obama to accept her delusion

[gollygee]

19. This has been said before and I think ignored

Transgender people have biological wiring in their brain that makes them transgender. They identify as the gender that their brain is wired to be.

However, race is not a biological thing, and there is nothing different about the brain of people of different races.

Race is a societal construct - given to us externally, by society, whether we want it or not. It is not a biological thing, or related to the brain.

Gender is an internal biological thing, including when people are transgender. It is biological and related to the brain.

It is not the same. Transgender people are identifying as the gender they recognize they are due to their brain wiring. They aren't just feeling like a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth - it is a biological fact.

[cwydro]

37. She made up hate mail claims

as well.

She's crazy.

[uppityperson]

43. The problem for me is her lies, not "one's self-identity abhorrent to one group and not another"

[LexVegas]

12. Reverse racism? Oh sweet Jesus. nt.

[bravenak]

14. I know. They be serious as hell, though.

[Starry Messenger]

15. There is not going to be enough wine this week.

[CreekDog]

41. Wine used to be enough for this place

Now you need a morphine drip.

[Nay]

49. Ain't that the truth. I'm hooking myself up right now. nt

[geek tragedy]

26. Check this out.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6821379

[LeftyMom]

21. Dude, kids went to a segregated school and YOU were the victim of racism?

Maybe the thing that made you unpopular wasn't your skin, it was your absolutely non-existent sense of perspective?

Edit: Wait, you taught HISTORY? Jesus Fucking Christ.

[geek tragedy]

27. It gets worse.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6821379

[noiretextatique]

32. unfortunately, i clicked on that link

i should have know better

[Marrah_G]

16. There is alot of dysfunction and fighting in her family.

I'm taking everything with a grain of salt. The NAACP's are really the only opinions that matter.

[countryjake]

22. It gets much worse. Now, she is putting herself up next to Ms. Jenner.

Here's what I read early this morning:

NAACP leader's parents say she lied about her race
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/questions-raised-about-spokane-naacp-head/nmbmH/

~snip~

Dolezal, meanwhile, has declined to comment directly about her background, saying Thursday the "question is not as easy as it seems. There's a lot of complexities, and I don't know that everyone would understand that."

She couldn't be reached Friday when contacted by The Associated Press.

Friday night, she tweeted, “I am very happy to see more people joining us #TransracialLivesMatter #WrongSkin.”

She also tweeted a picture of herself next to a picture of Caitlyn Jenner, with the caption “who are you to decide what is right for me?”

I read the Jezebel piece about her that Starry Messenger has linked to and I had to chuckle when I got to the paragraph that began with, "Dolezal’s reverse passing—new term! new term!—".

Who the hell does that? People with privilege.

I was astounded at what she's done on the day that this story first broke and probably had just a tad bit of pity for her, but no more. Comparing her own charade to the very real trials and agonies that trans people have always been faced with or to those who are actually bi-racial is simply beyond comprehension.

[Starry Messenger]

23. omg

I didn't know she'd tweeted that. What a horrible horrible person. This just turned it up to 11. And yes, totally privileged and arrogant.

[countryjake]

45. I'm not on Twitter and haven't seen it, but I'll take KIRO's word on it.

They've got Deborah Horne on the story now and she's always been a pretty good investigative reporter. She went out looking for the "dad" yesterday.

Spokane NAACP race controversy reaches Pierce County
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/spokane-naacp-race-controversy-reaches-pierce-coun/nmcdj/


SPOKANE, Wash. - The "no reporters" sign outside the Fox Island home was easy to see. And the woman who answered the door confirmed it.

The man who lives there, 77-year-old Albert Wilkerson Junior, does not want to talk about the president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP who claims he is her black father.

Indeed, on her Facebook page, Rachel Dolezal, identified Wilkerson as her dad.

He said he had no inkling that the controversy over race happening 300 miles to the east had reached quiet Fox Island, where he has lived for 30 years.

Personally, I think that the controversy is about a lying opportunist...her race is obvious, now, for all to see.

[cali]

24. ugh

[Scootaloo]

28. Transracial?

This calls for peach cider.

[GGJohn]

29. I'll drink to that.

[noiretextatique]

34. i think i need a bourbon

transracial let me mosey on down to the local bar in lynchan&$%*%, mississippi and inform the locals that i've decided to join their tribe...because i feel close affinity to rural, southern white culture. after i declare myself white, i am sure i will be welcomed with open ropes. what a self-serving lunatic!

[Scootaloo]

38. I think this concept might be the crowning achievement of white privilege

Last edited Sun Jun 14, 2015, 05:25 AM - Edit history (1)

I mean, okay, I don't want to cast stones at Rachel, personally - I don't know what's going on with her, and from what I understand, it seems like she has something entirely else going on in her head than just the race thing. So i have a sort of very confused but generally sympathetic approach, even though she's just factually wrong.

And if she were the only person I'd seen pushing this idea, that'd be that, one woman who has some issues, well, having those issues. But no, apparently there are other people who legitimately guy this notion. At least one on DU.

It's just like wow, really?

[Bonobo]

40. I was just thinking the same thing. How fucking patronizing can you get?

I'd like to see a Black person decide that they are white and see exactly how well received that is among white folks?

Or an Asian deciding they are white, etc.

[countryjake]

44. That term doesn't mean what Dolezal thinks it does...

Last edited Wed Jun 17, 2015, 12:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Here's a very informative thread explaining the true significance of the word "trans-racial" and that in its correct usage, Rachel Dolezal could never qualify...

Transracial doesn’t mean what Rachel Dolezal thinks it means ~ posted by me b zola
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026848470

Also, the Twitter account that KIRO quoted in their article on the Rachel Dolezal deceit has now been deleted, so it's very possible that it was a phony one to begin with.

[noiretextatique]

33. pathological privlege

is what i called her affliction. i know other people were waiting for more information, but this woman just rubbed me the wrong way from the first story i read about her. and so far, she's proving my gut feelings were accurate.

[countryjake]

42. It looks like the Spokane NAACP might be changing their minds

about backing her and keeping her on as the president. I don't have any links or anything, but tomorrow's big presser that they'd planned has been postponed. Hopefully, they've come to their senses!

Why would any chapter of a national organization want someone with that pack of lies on their record as a leader?

Pathological privilege, pathological liar, an opportunistic poser who's charade has now damaged the work of the honest fighters up here.

Don't know if you'd seen this...her original interview back in Feb published by the Eastern Washington University rag ...

A Life to be Heard
http://easterneronline.com/35006/eagle-life/a-life-to-be-heard/#sthash.1aUk3liU.RGtGsyl1.dpbs

And this:

Professor interprets racial differences
http://easterneronline.com/30681/eagle-life/professor-interprets-racial-differences/#sthash.uI6p7pHQ.LYo77xTB.dpbs

[JustAnotherGen]

47. The first article

Every word in it is a lie.

ETA - well not about her education and this is the first I've seen the rape allegation.

[freshwest]

46. Looks like a grifter to me. n/t

[840high]

30. She is a liar.

[lovemydog]

31. I think she's a loony fraud who needs mental health assistance.

Reminds me of a song I haven't heard in a while. I'd forgotten how much I love it!

[Prism]

39. I don't think she was mentally ill

I think she was a compulsive liar. For . . . reasons. But she knew what she was doing. Quite well. Mentally ill people don't bother about the minutiae she did to make it work.

Mentally ill people don't know any better. She so clearly, painfully obviously did. And to fake hate crimes on top of it to lend herself gravitas.

Jesus H. She is the worst kind of person.

What's weird is the Spokane NAACP backing her. I mean, I get she did work. She certainly did. But to come out publicly and go, "Naw, it's fine. No bother." Wha?

I wonder what she has on them at that point. These people have got to be pissed at her with a capital PPPPPPPP. So why are they publicly backing her up?

Every single part of this is weird as all hell.