Rachel Dolezal says she 'didn’t deceive anybody'

A month after intense criticism and media attention, Rachel Dolezal, who gained notoriety after identifying herself as black for years despite being born Caucasian, is unrepentant.

The embattled former president of the Spokane, Wash. chapter of the NAACP, who lost her leadership position and her job after her true identity became public, said she still identifies as black and believes she did not deceive anyone.

“I just feel like I didn’t mislead anybody; I didn’t deceive anybody,” she said in an interview with Vanity Fair published Sunday. “If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe that’s more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity and honesty, because I wouldn’t say I’m African American, but I would say I’m black, and there’s a difference in those terms.”

Dolezal detailed her complex and controversial identity in the interview.

“It’s not a costume," she told Vanity Fair. "I don’t know spiritually and metaphysically how this goes, but I do know that from my earliest memories I have awareness and connection with the black experience, and that’s never left me."

Dolezal's story gained widespread attention after her parents told local media in Spokane that she was born Caucasian. In a widely watched video segment, a KXLY reporter asked Dolezal if she was African-American, and Dolezal acted confused and walked away from the journalist. She had also identified a black man named Albert Wilkerson Jr. as her father on Facebook.

Dolezal resigned from her position as president of the NAACP Spokane chapter amid public outcry. Eastern Western University in Spokane also did not renew her contract to teach in the school’s Africana studies program. After she stepped down from her position at the NAACP, she told the Today show in June that she still identified as black.

Now, after losing both of her jobs, Dolezal says she is trying to pick up the pieces.

“[I lost] friends and the job and the work and—oh, my God—so much at the time,” she said.

With a month to reflect on the attention and notoriety, Dolezal said her experience learning about the black community and studying at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C, speak to her identification as a black woman.

Moving forward, Dolezal said she plans to write a book to explain her identity to those who may not understand it. After that, she hopes to continue to push social justice movements for the black community.

“After that comes out, then I’ll feel a little more free to reveal my life in the racial social-justice movement,” she said. “I’m looking for the quickest way to get back to that, but I don’t feel like I am probably going to re-enter that work with the type of leadership required to make change if I don’t have something like a published explanation."