Larry Dolezal told BuzzFeed News he could not fully explain why his daughter might have wanted to pose as a black woman.
But, he added: “She has over the past 20 years assimilated herself into the African American community through her various advocacy and social justice work, and so that may be part of the answer.”
He went on to say that Rachel cut off all communication with him and her mother, and “doesn’t want us visible in the Spokane area in her circle because we’re Caucasian.”
Dolezal again spoke about the abuse she had endured as a child to the
Easterner. She said she was born in a tepee, and the family hunted with bows and arrows. She also described living in South Africa.
As a young woman, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent chemotherapy, she said. But she kept her long, blonde dreadlocks and still sometimes wore them after recovery, the
Easterner reported.
“I’m the postmodern Rapunzel with locs,” she said in a Facebook comment.
Dolezal said she found a threatening package in the NAACP’s post office box in February,
KXLY reported. The city of Spokane later sent out a press release that the package contained racist messages and death threats. The city statement reiterated that it was the ninth hate crime Dolezal had experienced.
In interviews and her writing, Dolezal often mentions her black sons.
The
Coeur d’Alene Press quotes Dolezal referring to “my oldest son Izaiah.”
But Larry Dolezal said that Izaiah is actually Rachel’s adopted brother.