Rachel Dolezal, who sparked a lot of controversial debates due to a misrepresentation of her race, says she doesn’t “have any regrets” with how she identifies herself.
The former NAACP leader sat down on April 12 with Savannah Guthrie on NBC News’ “Today,” a year after her identity was questioned by a reporter.
“I’m still me and nothing about that has changed,” she said.
Last June, a reporter exposed Dolezal’s true identity on camera, by asking her her race—unbeknownst to Dolezal, a local newspaper had already contacted her parents, who are both caucasian—and they confirmed that Dolezal is their daughter.
They told the local newspaper that their daughter has been posing as a black woman for years.
Dolezal, 38, felt that it was a “complex issue” to unveil at the time.
“How do you just sum up a whole life of kind of coming into who you are in a sound bite?” She asked. “Those conversations? I feel like moving forward,” she said.
But despite what happened last year, the mother of three who recently gave birth to a son earlier this year, says the whole experience has been “challenging.”
Nonetheless, she is looking forward to what this year has to offer.
“It’s been some work to rebuild and get things back on track with life. We’re doing well. Looking at some new opportunities going into 2016,” she said.
According to Today, Dolezal has a new book on the way, and it will touch base on her personal experience with racial identity.
“Race is such a contentious issue because of the painful history of racism. Race didn’t create racism, but racism created race,” she said.
The former black-studies college professor, says she hopes to return back in the classroom and is looking forward to “getting back into racial and social justice work.”
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