NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal resigns amid race deception allegations

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Monday, June 15, 2015
Head of Spokane NAACP quits amid furor over racial identity
ABC's Aditi Roy has the latest.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Rachel Dolezal, the woman at the center of a controversy over whether she lied about her race on a government job application, resigned her position as the president of the Spokane NAACP Monday in an announcement on the chapter's Facebook page.

"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," Dolezal wrote. "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."

Dolezal's story gained international attention after her biological parents told the media that they, along with their daughter, were white, and that she had been misrepresenting her race for years.

"She was obviously misrepresenting herself," Ruthanne Dolezal told Good Morning America Monday. "We were aware of that but we did not pursue exposing her. It was only after the press came to us that we were willing to answer their questions."

Dolezal was approached by ABC affiliate KXLY about the allegations but walked away mid-interview.

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The city of Spokane launched an investigation Thursday to determine whether Dolezal lied on her application for the citizen police ombudsman commission, KXLY reported.

Dolezal did not address the validity of the allegations in her resignation.

"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," she wrote. "It's about justice."

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