Rachel Dolezal Postpones Monday NAACP Meeting To Address Controversy

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Rachel Dolezal, the president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), has postponed a Monday NAACP meeting after she initially said that she would address accusations that she has been pretending to be black.

“Due to the need to continue discussion with regional and national NAACP leaders, tomorrow’s meeting is postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date. We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time,” Dolezal said in an email statement delaying the meeting, according to ABC News.

Dolezal has said numerous times that she is of African American descent, according to local news outlets. But her parents, who describe themselves as white, showed Dolezal’s birth certificate to the Coeur d’Alene Press in Idaho, which indicated that they were her parents. They also provided a picture of Dolezal when she was younger, when she had blonde hair and blue eyes.

In a Friday evening email, Dolezal said she would address the questions about her race on Monday.

“There are many layers to this situation,” Dolezal said in the Friday statement, according to ABC News. “There are questions and assumptions swirling in national and global news about my family, my race, my credibility, and the NAACP. I have discussed the situation, including personal matters, with the Executive Committee. I support their decision to wait until Monday to make a statement. The Executive team asked that I also release my response statement at the same time, which will be during the 7-9 pm monthly membership meeting.”

After Dolezal’s email postponing the Monday meeting, one NAACP board member in Spokane questioned her authority to delay the meeting, according to the Spokesman-Review in Spokane.

“I don’t see any language in the by-laws that empowers you, or any one member, to arbitrarily cancel/postpone tomorrow’s meeting,” Lawrence Burnley, the chairman of the chapter’s executive committee, wrote in an email to Dolezal and other NAACP members, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Another NAACP member told the Spokesman-Review that the meeting would still go on despite Dolezal’s attempt to delay it.

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