Rachel Dolezal's appearance is 'blackface,' brother says

Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, is facing questions about whether she lied about her racial identity. Photo / AP

The adopted brother of civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal who claimed she was African American but is actually white, has complained that it's "like she's in blackface".

The NY Post reports Ezra Dolezal, whose father is half black, said her actions are a "slap in the face to African Americans because she doesn't know what it's like to be black".

Rachel, 37, was outed last week by her parents, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, who said they are Caucasian.

"There seems to be some question of how Rachel is representing her identity and ethnicity," Lawrence Dolezal told the Washington Post. "We are definitely her birth parents. We are both of Caucasian and European descent - Czech, German and a few other things."

The Dolezals provided The Post with family photos of Rachel as well as what they said was her birth certificate.

Ezra said he recalls Rachel telling him she was starting life over as a black woman.

"She's only been African American when it benefited her. She hasn't been through all the struggles. She's only been African American the last few years."

The NY Post reports Rachel has also been moonlighting as an "ethnic hair stylist" for years.

Despite being born with fine, blonde hair, in the last decade she has rocked everything from dreadlocks to Afro.

Her father described her as being a "master artist".

Rachel is the president of the Spokane NAACP, and has claimed to be the victim of a number of hate crimes.

Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, a Christian couple who adopted four young children - two of whom are black - while Rachel was a teenager, said her decision to misrepresent her racial background, if that's what she's doing, may be related to her family and social justice work.

"The adoption of the children definitely fueled her interest as a teenager in being involved with people of color," Ruthanne Dolezal said. "We've always had friends of different ethnicities. It was a natural thing for her."

In a telephone interview with The Post, the couple's second adopted son, Zach Dolezal, 21, confirmed she is white as well.

Zach said when he visited his sister in Spokane, he was told not to speak of Lawrence and Ruthanne as their parents.

"It's a farce, really, is what it is," he said, adding he thought Rachel had posted a photo of a black couple from Spokane on her Facebook page whom she referred to as her parents.

The Dolezals, it should be noted, are a family divided. Parents Lawrence and Ruthanne and brothers Ezra and Zach do not speak with their sister because, they say, she alleged abuse in the family and obtained custody of her 21-year-old brother Izaiah. Izaiah, who is black, lives with Rachel Dolezal in Spokane - and Rachel says he is her son, the family alleged.

The Spokane NAACP has offered limited response to the allegations about Dolezal's race.

James Wilburn, past president of the Spokane NAACP who was replaced by Dolezal, said Thursday that a few members of that group discussed her background before her election late last year.

"It was discussed among close members to me, and we kept it like that," he told the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

- nzherald.co.nz with additional reporting from The Washington Post