Rachel Dolezal, the Caucasian woman who headed the NAACP’s Spokane, Washington chapter - until her claim of being African-American was revealed to be fraudulent - sued the historically black college she attended, Howard University, for anti-white discrimination in 2002, the year she graduated from the school.
According to the court papers published by The Smoking Gun, Dolezal (then known as Rachel Moore) sued the university and Alfred J. Smith, Chairman of the school's art department for "discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender."
In the main she alleged that University officials, chiefly Smith had Invidiously (a) blocked her appointment to a teaching assistantship during the Fall semester of 2001 (b) rejected her application for an instructorship following completion of her graduate studies, and (c) denied her scholarship aid while a student.
The future African-American impersonator also contended that Dean Benjamin of Howard University removed her artwork from a student art exhibition "motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over Moore" (Dolezal).
Judge Zoe Bush backed up by the D.C. court of appeals and dismissed Dolezal’s lawsuit, finding no evidence of any discriminated on the basis of race or any other reason. On the art exhibit claim, the court ruled it couldn't provide an opinion because the statute of limitations had expired.
There is an obvious irony of someone who sued because of racial discrimination adopting the race of her "oppressors" and focusing her career on protecting them from discrimination. Beyond that, perhaps it was Rachel Dolezal's perceived discrimination and the loss of the lawsuit that motivated her to "switch races" to the side that won.
In the end, race is not the real issue on the Rachel Dolezal controversy - it's that she lied and took a position on a fraudulent basis.
An hour after she turned in her resignation on Monday, Dolezal's parents were interviewed on MSNBC's Thomas Roberts' program. Below is a video of that interview.