Rachel Dolezal: It’s ‘More Complex Than Me Identifying as Black’ [Full Interview]

LAUER: “So it started way back then. Rachel, when did you start -- and I'll use the word, you can correct me if you don't like it -- when did you start deceiving people and telling them you were black when you knew their questions were pointed in a different direction? When someone said to you, back then, ‘Are you black or white?’ and you'd say ‘I'm black,’ you wouldn't say, ‘I identify as black,’ you'd say, ‘I'm black.’ When did you start deceiving people?”

DOLEZAL: “Well, I do take exception to that, because it's a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of "Are you black or white?" I was actually identified when I was doing human rights work in north Idaho as, first, trans-racial, and then when some of the opposition to some of the human rights work I was doing came forward, the next day's newspaper article identified me as being a biracial woman, and then the next article when there were actually burglaries, nooses, etcetera, was, this is happening to a black woman. And I never corrected –“

LAUER: “Well, why didn't you correct it if you knew it wasn't true?”

DOLEZAL: “Because it's more complex than, you know, being true or false in that particular instance.”