Local Civil Rights Leader Responds To Dolezal Controversy

By David Spunt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --  Former Spokane NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal continues to make headlines every time she is asked if she's black or white.

Dolezal, born white, is under fire after she said during television interviews that she has always identified as a black woman. Dolezal even changed her appearance several years ago.

Childhood photographs from Montana show a blond girl with blue eyes, and Dolezal's parents have said their daughter continues to lie to the public.

"Our daughter is primarily German and Czech and of European descent," her mother Ruthanne Dolezal said.

Dolezal resigned from the NAACP on Monday, but her story fascinates Philadelphia civil rights leader Todd Bernstein.

"Before five days ago I never heard of Rachel Dolezal," Bernstein, the president of Global Citizen 365, told Eyewitness News.

Bernstein is white and insists that he has no problem leading a civil rights organization as a white man.

"I certainly don't pretend to be something other than who I am," he said.

Bernstein told Eyewitness News that Dolezal may have been more effective as a leader if she came clean years ago.

"I don't question her sincerity and passion for civil rights and social justice and her determination. What I question is her honesty and integrity," he said.