Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via APRachel Dolezal, the prominent civil rights activist accused of lying about her race, has resigned from her position as president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Wash.
"It is a true honor to serve in the racial and social justice movement here in Spokane and across the nation," she wrote in a statement posted Monday to the chapter's Facebook page. "Many issues face us now that drive at the theme of urgency. Police brutality, biased curriculum in schools, economic disenfranchisement, health inequities, and a lack of pro-justice political representation are among the concerns at the forefront of the current administration of the Spokane NAACP. And yet, the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity."
"I have waited in deference while others expressed their feelings, beliefs, confusions and even conclusions - absent the full story," she continued. "I am consistently committed to empowering marginalized voices and believe that many individuals have been heard in the last hours and days that would not otherwise have had a platform to weigh in on this important discussion. Additionally, I have always deferred to the state and national NAACP leadership and offer my sincere gratitude for their unwavering support of my leadership through this unexpected firestorm."
"In the eye of this current storm, I can see that a separation of family and organizational outcomes is in the best interest of the NAACP," she went on. "It is with complete allegiance to the cause of racial and social justice and the NAACP that I step aside from the Presidency and pass the baton to my Vice President, Naima Quarles-Burnley..."
The statement continued: "Please know I will never stop fighting for human rights and will do everything in my power to help and assist, whether it means stepping up or stepping down, because this is not about me. It's about justice. This is not me quitting; this is a continuum. It's about moving the cause of human rights and the Black Liberation Movement along the continuum from Resistance to Chattel Slavery to Abolition to Defiance of Jim Crow to the building of Black Wall Street to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and into a future of self-determination and empowerment.
The 37-year-old activist signed her statement, "With much love and a commitment to always fight for what is right and good in this world, Rachel Dolezal."
It was just last week that Rachel was thrust into the spotlight when her estranged parents Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal told NBC affiliate KHQ their biological daughter was misrepresenting herself as black when the family did not have any African heritage. On Monday's Today, the Dolezals explained to Savannah Guthrie why they spoke publicly about their daughter's background. "We taught our children, as we raised all six of them, tell the truth. Always be honest," said Rachel's father Lawrence, who noted a newspaper contacted them (and not the other way around). "So we weren't going to lie, we told the truth. Rachel is our birth daughter."
Rachel's father said her family is "puzzled" as to why she allegedly misrepresented her race. Her mother Ruthanne added that she "may have felt she had some advantage in her activism by being portrayed as a black woman."
Her father told Today that although he and his wife have been out of contact with Rachel since 2012, they "still hold out hope that we'll be able to be reconciled someday."
"And we hope that Rachel will get the help that she needs to deal with her identity issues," said her mother, Ruthanne. "Of course we love her, and we hope that she will come to a place where she knows and believes and speaks the truth."
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)