Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP leader who became a global hate figure after being outed as a white woman masquerading as black, has spoken about her puritanical Christian upbringing, the backlash that left her surviving on food stamps, and why she would still do the same again.
Dolezal, 38, was raised in rural Montana by fundamentalist Christian parents, Lawrence and Ruthanne, who believed in creationism and harsh punishment. She says she spent years imagining it was all a horrible mistake, dreaming she was really a princess in Egypt who had been kidnapped and adopted.
After escaping the fundamentalist yoke, Dolezal changed her appearance, revised her history and constructed a new family, adopting a series of African-American 'dads' and presenting her brother as her son. It all came crashing down on 11 June this year when she was asked in a television interview: 'Are you African American?' Her stunned reply was interpreted as evidence she was a 'race faker'.
Dolezal lost her job as president of the NAACP in Spokane and her African studies post at Eastern Washington University. Many friends refuse to talk to her. Unable to find work, she is raising her teenage son on food stamps and doing hairdressing on the side. She has a baby on the way.
Despite the backlash, Dolezal remains unapologetic. 'For me, how I feel is more powerful than how I was born,' she says. 'If somebody asked me how I identify, I identify as black. Nothing about whiteness describes who I am.'
