The Rachel Divide (2018) on Netflix
NR20181h 44mDocumentary
Rachel Dolezal leads the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, and identifies as black. After her brother tells journalists she is hiding a secret, her parents say she is white.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.3/102,906 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes72%
Trailer
Plot summary
Rachel Dolezal, who also goes by Nkechi Diallo, was born to white parents and identifies as black. She was president of the NAACP branch in Spokane, Washington, from February 2014. Her brother Joshua Dolezal brought journalists in the area a tip that she was concealing something, and her parents, Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, said publicly that their daughter was white. She resigned from the branch and lost her job as an Africana studies instructor at Eastern Washington University and her seat on the Spokane police ombudsman commission. The documentary looks at the years before the controversy and at what followed, following her at home with her sons Franklin and Izaiah and her youngest child Langston. Her sister Esther describes beatings by their parents, and Dolezal explains her study of black history and her own word for herself, transracial.
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Rachel Divide (2018)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rachel Dolezal, the subject of the documentary, was president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington from February 2014 until June 2015, when she resigned amid suspicion she had lied about hate crimes committed against her; she was born white with blonde hair and blue eyes.
- After the exposure, Dolezal was dismissed from her job as an Africana studies instructor at Eastern Washington University and removed by the Spokane city council as chair of the police ombudsman commission over 'a pattern of misconduct,' and a police investigation did not support her hate crime allegations.
