Rachel Dolezal, the woman who faked being black, says she has ‘no regrets’

RACHEL Dolezal made headlines last year after being outed for faking her ethnicity. But now she says she has “no regrets” and still identifies as a black woman.

‘Fake black’ woman has ‘no regrets’

A FORMER high profile member of an African American civil rights group, who was born to white parents and investigated for faking her ethnicity, says she has “no regrets” and still identifies as a black woman.

Rachel Dolezal was the chapter president of the US National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and worked in numerous other roles where she fights for civil rights. She claimed to have a black father.

But last June, her estranged caucasian parents revealed to a local newspaper that their daughter is not black, but has Czech, Swedish and German roots with a touch of Native American heritage.

Rachel Dolezal now, and as a child.

“It is very disturbing that she has become so dishonest,” her mother Ruthanne told The Spokesman-Review.

In November, Dolezal admitted that she was born white. “I acknowledge that I was biologically born white to white parents, but I identify as black,” she told The Real.

Now, the 38-year-old has revealed she plans to write a book about her experience with racial identity.

During an interview with the US Today show, Ms Dolezal said she had no regrets about the whole saga.

These are Ms Dolezal’s parents. Picture: Today

“I don’t have any regrets about how I identify. I’m still me and nothing about that has changed,” she told Today’s Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday.

When asked about the storm of controversy that put her in the headlines last year, Ms Dolezal said it was a “complex issue”.

“I do wish I could have given myself permission to really name and own the me of me earlier in life. It took me almost 30 years to get there,” she said.

“Certainly, I feel like it’s a complex issue. How do you just sum up a whole life of kind of coming into who you are in a sound bite? Those conversations? I feel like moving forward. I don’t have any regrets about that.”

Rachel Dolezal is the former president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP. Picture: Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review via AP

Ms Dolezal gave birth to a son earlier this year, and also has two other children. She says she gets recognised nearly everywhere she goes.

“It’s been some work to rebuild and get things back on track with life. We’re doing well. Looking at some new opportunities going into 2016,” she said.

She hopes to return to her position as a black studies college professor. “I’m just looking forward to getting back into racial and social justice work,” she said.

“Race is such a contentious issue because of the painful history of racism. Race didn’t create racism, but racism created race.”

Watch the full interview here: