Former Spokane NAACP President Rachel Dolezal explained Tuesday how she, a white woman, manages to transform her once straight, blonde locks into styles traditionally worn by black women.
"Is it a perm? Is it a weave? Everybody's asking,"
said reporter Amber Payne of NBCBLK. "Is it Mixed Chicks? Is it, I mean, Miss Jessie’s? Or — can you tell us?
"You're just going to out me like that," giggled Dolezal, who became the subject of national headlines last week after her parents accused her of masquerading as a black woman for years.
"Well, because you're you and I'm here, I'll tell you. If I was in a grocery store or anywhere else, I’d say, 'It’s none of your business, back off,'" she began
"But yeah, so this is a weave and, you know, I do it myself."
That's when Payne noted that Dolezal has been styling her own hair as well as others' for years.
"I do it myself. I do dreads, I do braids — not just my hair," Dolezal confirmed.
"I’ve just been doing this because it’s, uh, I haven’t had time recently to change, for a few months. Usually in the summer I go back to my 'locks."
In another interview this week, Dolezal said that she has identified as black since she was roughly 5 years old. The revelations about her past have sparked a national conversation on race, with some crying foul, and others saying she is "transracial."