Spokane NAACP president's brother joins melee
Rachel Dolezal, the embattled president of Spokane's NAACP chapter, is facing more allegations, now from her adopted brother.
"She took me aside and just told me not to blow her cover," Ezra Dolezal, one of her African American adopted siblings, told CBS affiliate KREM-TV by phone. "She's like trying to say like people were racist to her her entire life, even though she grew up a white, privileged person up in Montana."
Dolezal has been at the center of a firestorm ever since her parents came forward last week and said she is lying about being African American. She abruptly canceled a Monday meeting where she planned to explain herself, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.
Her parents, Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, remember their daughter as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl.
"I am her birth father, I will always be her birth father. And so her true birth ethnicity is Caucasian," Larry said.
"Our daughter is primarily German and Czech and European descent," Ruthanne said.
Dolezal is the subject of multiple investigations, and some members of her chapter are demanding she step aside. However, Dolezal said she has not misled anyone about her race.
"If I was asked, I would definitely say, that yes, I do consider myself to be black," she said.
But the city council is now exploring whether she should be removed as chairwoman of a commission that oversees misconduct complaints against police officers.
Dolezal checked off numerous boxes -- including African American -- on her employment form.
Dolezal was elected president of the NAACP's Spokane chapter last November. She holds a masters degree from Howard University and teaches African studies at a local university.
NAACP member Kitara Johnson is organizing a protest against Dolezal and has created a petition calling on her to take a leave of absence.
"If I find out that you have not been completely honest with me, and you lied just to get close to me? Yes, I feel betrayed," Johnson said.
Dolezal has claimed the man pictured here is her father. She is estranged from her biological parents and said the truth is complicated.
"It is a very private matter especially getting into somebody's childhood and past, and family members that have had a history of litigation," Dolezal said.
Officially, the NAACP said race has never been a factor in choosing its leaders and that the organization stands behind Dolezal. Over the years, Dolezal has also claimed to have been the target of numerous racist incidents and messages. On Friday, the Spokane police said all cases involving her have been suspended.