Whoopi Goldberg and Raven-Symone defend Rachel Dolezal on "The View"
Whoopi Goldberg and Raven-Symone spoke out about Rachel Dolezal, the embattled NAACP chapter head on "The View" Monday, saying they think she has the right to identify as she feels fit.
"If she wants to be black, she can be black," said Goldberg about the former NAACP president of the Spokane, Washington, chapter, who recently stepped down from her post. "Look, just like people say, 'I feel like a man, I feel like a woman, I feel like this.' She wants to be a black woman, fine. Everything that comes with that she is prepared for. Okay."
Dolezal has been at the heart of national controversy after her parents came forward last week and said she is lying about being African-American. Her adoptive brother has also come forward and claimed "she grew up a white, privileged person up in Montana."
Raven-Symone noted that "everybody has some type of African blood inside them," and asked, "And what makes a black person, just your skin?"
"The View" co-host Rosie Perez showed both support and skepticism for Dolezal, remarking on the potential effects of her dishonesty.
"Another part that people had a problem with her is also that she was speaking to a lot of young black youths and telling them, 'I know how you feel. I've been through blah, blah, blah.' She doesn't know. You can't know," Perez said, prompting more disagreement.
"She definitely owned it," Goldberg insisted, adding, "She's passing as this woman for over five years. If this b*tch don't know by now what's it's like [to be black], she's never going to know."
Raven-Symone, who joined "The View" just last week, added, "Black women straighten their hair every day. Black woman do it all the time...White women can't do the same thing?"