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Embattled president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP Rachel Dolezal resigned Monday after controversy erupted from her false claims of being black and bi-racial. Dolezal's own parents spoke out to say she had lied, and over the weekend, her brother came forward to publicly disprove her claims. Dolezal's resignation was posted on Spokane NAACP's Facebook page.
Dolezal was president of the local NAACP chapter just five months. During the uproar she had remained quiet, but her statement Monday was sweeping and grand.
Here are five telling quotes from Dolezal's resignation.
1. Dolezal seems perplexed at the news coverage and national dialogue.
“Many issues face us now that drive at the theme of urgency. Police brutality, biased curriculum in schools, economic disenfranchisement, health inequities, and a lack of pro-justice political representation are among the concerns at the forefront of the current administration of the Spokane NAACP. And yet, the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity."
2. Dolezal believes the furor over her claiming to be black provided a platform for other “marginalized voices.”
“I am consistently committed to empowering marginalized voices and believe that many individuals have been heard in the last hours and days that would not otherwise have had a platform to weigh in on this important discussion.”
3. Dolezal acknowledges her actions and the fallout from it are a distraction to the goals of the NAACP.
“We can NOT afford to lose sight of the five Game Changers (Criminal Justice & Public Safety, Health & Healthcare, Education, Economic Sustainability, and Voting Rights & Political Representation) that affect millions, often with a life or death outcome. The movement is larger than a moment in time or a single person's story ...”
4. Dolezal claims credit for a number of initiatives at the Spokane chapter of the NAACP.
“It is my hope that by securing a beautiful office for the organization in the heart of downtown, bringing the local branch into financial compliance, catalyzing committees to do strategic work in the five Game Changer issues, launching community forums, putting the membership on a fast climb, and helping many individuals find the legal, financial and practical support needed to fight race-based discrimination, I have positioned the Spokane NAACP to buttress this transition.”
5. Dolezal assures us she will “never stop fighting for human rights,” even if that means she must step aside.
"Because this is not about me. It's about justice. This is not me quitting; this is a continuum. It's about moving the cause of human rights and the Black Liberation Movement along the continuum from Resistance to Chattel Slavery to Abolition to Defiance of Jim Crow to the building of Black Wall Street to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and into a future of self-determination and empowerment."
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