Rachel Dolezal

I stand on the black side of issues, philosophically, politically, socially, and for me to not check that box, I felt like, would be some sort of betrayal of not only who I am but also the community I affiliate with.

I think that, in America, even though race is a social construct, I mean, we say this in theory, but I think a lot of people don't believe that it really is. And so it's still a very racialized society.

I wish Americans understood that race is a social construct, even if we don't want it to be.

People didn't seem able to consider that maybe both were true. OK, I was born to white parents, but maybe I had an authentic black identity.

It's a painful thing to talk about my childhood. I kind of don't talk about it much.

Hopefully, even if I am judged or there's confusion, anger, about how I identify, I hope that people can understand that family is fluid.

In the Dolezal family, you couldn't always count on your parents to keep you safe.

From a very young age, I felt a spiritual, visceral, instinctual connection with 'black is beautiful.' Just the black experience and wanting to celebrate that. And I didn't know how to articulate that as a young child.

My husband didn't want me to wear any black hairstyles. Nicole Kidman was his standard of beauty.

In order to really move toward what people really think of as some sort of Utopian post-racial society or somehow to really challenge the racial hierarchy, we're going to have to allow some fluidity.

I really just prefer to be exactly who I am, and black is really the closest race and cultural category that represents the essence of who I am.

There's no such thing as racial, non-white supremacy.