Rachel Dolezal's definition of 'transracial' isn't just wrong, it's destructive | Syreeta McFadden

To deny ethnic and cultural differences is to erase the identities of those who cannot choose

After days of speculation, Rachel Dolezal appeared on the Today show and declared herself transracial - and blamed other people's misunderstanding of the term on why she came to be identified as black. "I was actually identified when I was doing human rights work in north Idaho as first transracial", she said - in a construction that conveniently negated her agency in that decision - and explained that she never corrected subsequent media reports that she was biracial or black.

"I identify as black", she said during the interview, though she admits to having identified as white at other points - including when she sued Howard University for racial discrimination because she was white. (She lost.)