What do you think of Rachel Dolezal’s book cover?
Rachel Dolezal, the civil rights activist who resigned as president of an NAACP chapter after it was revealed that she was a white woman pretending to be African American, has unveiled the title and cover of her forthcoming memoir on Instagram.
The book, available for preorder on Amazon, is titled “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.â€
The description of the book on Amazon, which is typically provided by the publisher or author, reads: “A lot of people think they know what Rachel Dolezal is. Race faker. Liar. Opportunist. Crazy bitch. But they don’t get to decide who Rachel Dolezal is.â€
Dolezal was president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP from 2014 to 2015. After her parents revealed that she was white and that she had lied for years about her racial heritage, she resigned from the post.
During her years as a civil rights activist, she had filed racial harassment complaints, which were dropped after the revelation of her heritage. She also lost her jobs as chair of the Spokane Police Ombudsman Commission and as an instructor of Africana education at Eastern Washington University.
The description of Dolezal’s memoir on its Amazon page suggests that Dolezal still bristles at being described as white.
“On June 11, 2015, the media ‘outed’ Rachel Dolezal as a white woman who had knowingly been ‘passing’ as black,†it reads. “When asked if she were African American during an interview about the hate crimes directed at her and her family, she hesitated before ending the interview and walking away. Some interpreted her reluctance to respond and hasty departure as dishonesty, while others assumed she lacked a reasonable explanation for the almost unprecedented way she identified herself.â€
The description of the book calls her story “nuanced and complex,†and says it will discuss “the discrimination she’s suffered while living as a black woman.â€
Dolezal hinted that she would write a book last July, but was evidently unable to draw the interest of a major publisher. Her memoir is being released by BenBella Books, a small press based in Dallas.
Reactions to Dolezal’s Instagram post were mixed. One user commented, “I believe that your a wealth of insight and it’s a loss that a Black organization did not stand with you because of a color of an individuals skin or a race demographic on a job application.â€
Another user was markedly less supportive, writing: “Please tell me what she knows about being a REAL TRUE black woman?!?! Girl BYE with this foolishness!! You’ll NEVER know our struggles and I don’t care how much dark spray tan you put on.â€
“In Full Color†was co-written with Storms Reback, an Austin, Texas, author whose books include “Ship It Holla Ballas!: How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker’s Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew.†The memoir is scheduled for release on March 28, 2017.
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