Rachel Dolezal Is Writing a Book About Racial Identity

Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter leader who made headlines after it was revealed she was a race faker, said in a recent interview that she is writing a book about racial identity.

The 37-year-old who identifies as a black woman despite being born white by birth told TODAY on Tuesday that after a difficult year, she is ‘ready to move on.’

Dolezal, who welcomed her third child, baby boy Langston Attickus Dolezal, in February, also spoke about how she has no regrets about how she identifies herself.

‘I don’t have any regrets about how I identify, I’m still me, and nothing about that has changed,’ she said in the interview.

Last year, Dolezal resigned from her post as the Spokane, Washington NAACP leader amid questions about her racial identity after her parents said she was a white woman pretending to be black.

She later conceded that she ‘was biologically born white to white parents’.

She also compared herself to Caitlyn Jenner, claiming that race is ‘not coded in your DNA’ and should be viewed like gender or religion.

While speaking with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Dolezal talked about her journey to rebuild her life after coming under scrutiny last year.

‘It was challenging, for sure. But also wonderful in some ways,’ she said.

‘I welcomed a new son into the world. He’s perfect and precious in every way. It’s just been some work to rebuild and get things back on track with our life, me and my two older sons and my sister.’

She added: ‘We are looking at some, you know, new opportunities going into 2016.’

When asked if she wishes she had been upfront about being born white instead of allowing people to believe she was born black, Dolezal said she wishes she could have allowed herself to ‘name and own the me of me earlier in life.’

She said: ‘It took me almost 30 years to get there, but certainly I feel like, you know, it’s a complex issue. How do you just sum up a whole life of coming into who you are in a sound bite?’

‘I feel like moving forward, I don’t have any regrets about that,’ Dolezal continued.

TODAY also asked Dolezal about what she hopes to say in her book which will explore some of the complexities of racial identity.

‘A lot of people have reached out to me over the past year, which has been another bright spot in this is I have heard a lot of stories from people around the world about their lives being somehow caught between boundary lines of race or culture, ethnicity,’ she said.

‘And so this larger issue of if you don’t fit into one box and if you don’t stay there your whole life, being identified from birth.

‘So what does that look like, because race is such a contentious issue because of the painful history of racism.

‘Race didn’t create racism but racism created race. So it’s important to think through a lot of those topics and questions that people have.

‘And that’s why this became kind of so visible because it really challenged people to think about identity and what is race. Is there one human race? Why do we still want to go back to that worldview of separate races?’

Dolezal shared that it has been difficult to do everyday tasks such as going to the grocery store after gaining notoriety after she had been outed as white last year.

‘Sometimes you just put on your sunglasses and just go about your life and try not to sweat it too much and just stay focused,’ she said.

As Dolezal looks forward to what is in store for her this year, she mentioned she has some speaking engagements lined up and that she recently did a TED Talk.

She also expressed her excitement to write the book, and to ‘really get into addressing some of the issues that I’ve researched for many years,’ and hopes to get back into teaching.

She noted she is just excited to get back into social justice work.