Brother of Former NAACP Leader Speaks Out
RACHEL DOLEZAL, FORMER NAACP LEADER: I know who raised me. I haven't had a DNA test. There's been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne are my biological parents.</s>PEREIRA: That was former NAACP leader of Spokane, Rachel Dolezal, standing her ground against claims she's misrepresented her race. Dolezal telling NBC that she identifies as a black woman and that she has doubts over whether her white parents were actually her biological parents. We have to ask somebody in the family about this. Ezra Dolezal is here. He is with us yesterday. He is Rachel's brother. They were adopted into -- well, he was into the same family. How are you doing today, Ezra? It's been a big day for you and your family.</s>EZRA DOLEZAL, BROTHER OF RACHEL DOLEZAL: Oh, yes, definitely. It's been busy.</s>PEREIRA: Busy and I'm sure confusing.</s>DOLEZAL: Oh, yes.</s>PEREIRA: You just heard that sound byte from your sister saying she has no proof that Larry and Ruthanne are her biological parents. What did you think when you heard that?</s>DOLEZAL: She has no proof that they are not her parents. I mean, I guarantee she is not going to take a DNA test to prove they are not her parents.</s>PEREIRA: Why wouldn't she?</s>DOLEZAL: Because they are. She doesn't want to be caught going back on her story again, or have to go back in her story again.</s>PEREIRA: Is she just lying? Do you think she has a problem with the truth?</s>DOLEZAL: I think so.</s>PEREIRA: Is there anything truthful in what she's saying?</s>DOLEZAL: No. Pretty much everything she is saying is not true. I mean, she -- different forms of the truth, like, history like this story of going to Africa and all that. But --</s>PEREIRA: Your family was in Africa, but she was not there.</s>DOLEZAL: Yes. She's actually been using the stories to actually change it to help her out, I mean her story out. Like the whole, like several things like that, and being born in a teepee and all</s>PEREIRA: OK. So, do you have any family lore about a teepee ever? Because, you know, I can think about my family and I can remember stories being told around the family table before I was born. Were there stories like that that your parents talked about, I remember your dad put up a tepee? Was that a family story and she just sort of manipulated it to her narrative?</s>DOLEZAL: Yes, her parents lived in it a month after they were married. Yes, she never did. She used that story to actually help her story out, I guess, just add to it. So --</s>PEREIRA: Why do you think? I know that is something you are struggling to understand, Ezra, and I'm sure your parents are, too. This must be very mystifying to them. Why? What do you think is at the core of all of this for Rachel?</s>DOLEZAL: I think, she doesn't -- she's too nervous to admit that she's not been telling the truth, which is why she keeps on making up more and more lies to help fit the story as it goes, like, she was changing her story multiple times within the past week. Like, she did say a lot of things differently yesterday than she said before.</s>PEREIRA: Like what?</s>DOLEZAL: Like, originally, she said she was born black. And, yesterday, she was mentioning about being identifying herself as black. Originally, she said she was born black.</s>PEREIRA: In your experience, growing up in the Dolezal household, I know she was a lot older than you, and when she had already gone her way to college, she came back in the summers. Did you see evidence of that?</s>DOLEZAL: No, no, no.</s>PEREIRA: Was there pressure to fit in because we know your adopted siblings were African-American, was there a pressure to feel she need to blend in?</s>DOLEZAL: Oh, no, because up until she was 15, she was the youngest child. None of us were actually born until she was 15. So, she never really felt that, I don't think, pressure to fit with them, or any of us.</s>PEREIRA: Tell me about the dynamic. She talks about the fact she need to take on this identity in order to survive and that she need to represent the blackness. You grew up with a white mother and white father. Did they feel that similar kind of pressure?</s>DOLEZAL: Oh, no. No, they didn't. Not at all. I don't know why she would say she felt that because growing up -- I mean, even later like in life, up until like 2011, she always identified herself as white. She was interested in African-American studies, and did a lot of work with them, like racism and stuff, but she never actually identified herself or tried to identify herself as black until 2011.</s>PEREIRA: She was talking about the fact that, you know, her parents aren't really her parents. This has been hurtful to your parents. Can I play the sound real quick of what they had to say on CNN last night?</s>RUTHANNE DOLEZAL, MOTHER OF RACHEL DOLEZAL: It was disturbing because the false statements continue. And as much as we are concerned with Rachel's identity issues, we are also concerned with her integrity issues.</s>PEREIRA: For you, Ezra, is this an integrity or identity issue or a bit of both for you?</s>DOLEZAL: I think it's integrity. That's definitely what it is, because the fact of how she will change her story, the fact she's told so many statements that are not true in the past week. I think it's an integrity issue with her.</s>PEREIRA: Well, it certainly has the nation talking about race and identity and who we are as a people. Ezra, thanks so much for coming in. This is putting your family business out there. And I know it's not comfortable to do. Ezra Dolezal, really a pleasure to have you here.</s>DOLEZAL: Thank you.</s>PEREIRA: Chris?</s>CUOMO: The more you learn, the more you want to know about that story. All right. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, Trump says Hillary doesn't say, the election is supposed to be about you. We spotlight the peeps of New Hampshire who gives straight talk about what matters. I test and they take it to me. Here is a taste.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it is up to us, as citizens to attend those town hall meetings. I find town hall meetings very informative.</s>CUOMO: Nobody goes to town hall meetings. Nobody goes, in general.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean? We all do.