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A PROMINENT CIVIL rights activist, who has been a leader of a rights group for African Americans has been disguising herself as a black woman for years, her family says.
Rachel Dolezal has been a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in Spokane, Washington for a number of years.
This, despite being of Czech, Swedish and German descent.
Dolezal, originally from Idaho, had become prominent in the media locally, campaigning on race issues and against hate crimes. She had claimed to be a victim of racial harassment, something police say there is little evidence of.
Her mother told the Coeur D’alene Press that Dolezal’s claims that she had been raised by a white stepfather were false and she had, in fact, just celebrated her 41st anniversary with Rachel’s father.
“Rachel is very good at using her artistic skills to transform herself,” Ruthanne Dolezal said.
“It is very disturbing that she has become so dishonest.”
Her parents say Dolezal married and later divorced a black man. They said after the divorce in 2004 Rachel began identifying as the daughter of bi-racial parents.
She had told fellow members that her father was coming to Spokane in January, sharing a picture on the NAACP Facebook page of her with a black man. His failure to show up, coupled with the discovery that she has identified herself as white, black and native American on different forms, raised suspicions.
Asked by a local TV crew if she was African American, she said she “didn’t understand the question” before walking off.
When contacted by the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Dolezal said the issue was “multilayered” and “We’re all from the African continent.”
She added that the controversy was sparked by an ugly litigation process with family members.
Reaction
Spokane’s City Hall says it is investigating the issue, but there is no indication that anything illegal was done.
The issue caught fire on Twitter last night, trending across the US. Some have accused Dolezal of cultural appropriation, but others have likened the case to that of Caitlyn Jenner.
Dolezal’s mother said that the family have long been aware of her racial claims, but only commented when contacted by the media.
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My wife was under the supervision of Dr. Louise Kenny who is one of the leading Doctors in this research. My wife delovped this condition in her three pregnancy’s the last only two weeks ago. Only for the very highly skilled Dr. Kenny we have three healthy children. Well done to all involved and keep up the excellent research.
Fantastic news.
I suffered badly with this during my one and only pregnancy which lead to my boy being born 10wks early. Both of us came out of it great thankfully and you wouldn’t belive now that my boy was only 2lb7 when born. He is fine, big and healthy now. I was advised to be happy with what I had and not try pregnancy again.
So this news is amazing and its just a pity my time clock is against me. But best of luck to those that lives it will touch.
This is fantastic news, I’m currently on bed rest with high blood pressure during my pregnancy and hoping it doesn’t develop into pre-eclampsia! I wish all those involved with this project the very best of luck!
Best of luck to you Starry eyed :)
This is a wonderful advance. It will save many lives and help spare heartache. Pre-eclampsia was diagnosed too late for my first pregnancy and my premature son only lived 4 days. I had pre-eclampsia from the beginning of my second pregnancy but thankfully with blood pressure medication and regular monitoring, I have a very healthy daughter. Best of success to this company.
Well done folks!
Hi folks, Just to draw your attention to a link that you might find useful should you require more information about pre-eclampsia – have a look at the Pre-eclampsia Foundation’s website: http://www.preeclampsia.org/
I added it to the end of the article above but just in case some people didn’t read right to end and skipped straight to comments. (Not that that EVER happens on our site ;))
Best of luck to all mums and dads-to-be, Susan
Well done to them and hopefully it’s successful. I had pre-eclampsia with both my children and its one of the reasons I won’t have a third. Anything that can detect and hopefully in time prevent this awful condition is to be applauded.
It is a UCC spinout company too – great news for them, well done!
I love it!
Well done to all involved. Up Cork and its enterprising personnel.
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