In June of 2015, Spokane’s NAACP chapter president was asked if she was African-American. Her response, and details about her life that quickly came out, caused the national spotlight to glare down on Rachel Dolezal.
Saying she ‘identifies as Black,’ despite looking quite white for much of her life, quickly led to scorn and mockery from all demographics.
With her new book, In Full Color, it becomes apparent that Rachel’s life was never going to be simple from day one, when she was born and raised in a teepee in Montana. She resigned her post with the NAACP. As she told me in our conversation today, the only job offers she got involved taking off her clothes (such is the sad circumstance for any girl who suddenly finds herself in the public eye).
"I pride myself in my integrity, and I wouldn't stoop that low to make a dollar," she told me this morning.
Regarding the racial identification issue that put her on the national stage, she says in the book, “One minute I was working 24/7 in support of racial justice, and the next I only had one job left: explaining and justifying my very existence on the planet.”
CLICK HERE for my conversation with Rachel this morning, where she tells me what it was like to be under that huge microscope, how she dealt with the ridicule from black people ("Haters are gonna hate"), and whether she has any sense of humor about all she’s been through these past two years.