Rachel Dolezal Changes Her Name to Nkechi Amare Diallo

In this July 24, 2009, file photo, Rachel Dolezal, a leader of the Human Rights Education
AP/Nicholas K. Geranios

Rachel Dolezal – the white woman, who spent years posing as a black civil rights leader – has reportedly changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo, a West African moniker that mean “gift of God.”

According to documents published by the Daily Mail, the former NAACP president legally changed her name in a Washington state court last October.

News of Dolezal’s name change comes on the heels of reports that the former African-American culture instructor is jobless, on welfare, and on the brink of homelessness.

After applying for nearly 100 jobs, Dolezal says the only employment opportunities she’s received are from porn and reality TV agents. Her memoir, In Full Color, was rejected by 30 publishing houses before one said it was willing to print.

“There’s no protected class for me,” Dolezal told the Guardian. “I’m this generic, ambiguous scapegoat for white people to call me a race traitor and take out their hostility on. And I’m a target for anger and pain about white people from the black community. It’s like I am the worst of all these worlds.”

Despite discarding her family and wrecking her career, Dolezal is defiant and unapologetic about her decision to identify as a black woman.

“I’m not going to stoop and apologize and grovel and feel bad about it,” she said. “I would just be going back to when I was little, and had to be what everybody else told me I should be – to make them happy.”

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson

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