On left, a recent image of Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP. On right, a photo of a younger Dolezal provided by her parents.(Photo: KREM-TV, Spokane, Wash.)
An earlier version of this story misstated the intentions of a tweet by @GodfreyElfwick. He operates a parody account.
An unusual case of racial identity in Spokane, Wash., has people talking about identity and if it's possible to be born in the "wrong skin."
The parents of Rachel Dolezal, the president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, claim their daughter is falsely
identifying as African American when she is actually caucasian.
"She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true," Ruthanne Dolezal, Rachel's mother said. Ruthanne told reporters that Rachel grew up with adopted African American siblings and married a black man before divorcing him in 2004.
USA TODAY
Parents out 'black' NAACP leader as white woman
In response to the news coverage, people have taken to Twitter using the hashtags #transracial, #transraciallivesmatter and #wrongskin.
The majority of people appeared to mock the concept of a "transracial" identity, including user @GodfreyElfwick who tweeted that he was born to white parents, but identifies as black. Godfrey Elfwick operates a parody account.
If this Rachel lady identifies as a black woman who are we to say she isn't? Stop being trans-phobic people. This is America.
— Lucky Seven (@LuckySeven30)
June 12, 2015
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