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The Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP postponed a Monday meeting where its leader, Rachel Dolezal, was expected to address accusations that she lied about her race.
“Due to the need to continue discussion with regional and national NAACP leaders, tomorrow’s meeting is postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date,” the chapter said in a statement Sunday.
Dolezal’s estranged parents have accused her of falsely portraying herself as black for years, claiming she is white.
The revelation sparked a nationwide controversy on race and identity, especially because she is president of the local NAACP chapter and is chairwoman of a police oversight committee.
“We are her birth parents,” her father, Lawrence Dolezal, said Friday. “We do not understand why she feels it’s necessary to misrepresent her ethnicity.”
After the meeting was postponed, the head of the chapter’s executive committee criticized the decision.
“I don’t see any language in the by-laws that empowers you, or any one member, to arbitrarily cancel/postpone tomorrow’s meeting,” Lawrence Burnley said in a letter to Dolezal.
Rachel Dolezal declined an interview when contacted by CNN last week, but said she stands by her record of service. She said she would address the accusations Monday night at the now postponed meeting.
Dolezal has said she received threatening hate mail in the past, but the Spokane Police Department told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that it dropped its investigation on the letters because of lack of leads. The investigation was dropped before the controversy about her race became public
