Rachel Dolezal's 'Today' Interview Video: 'I Identify as Black'

Rachel Dolezal has broken her silence following the controversy surrounding her race – watch her interview on The Today Show held on Tuesday morning (June 16) in New York City.

“I identify as black,” Rachel explained, adding that she has felt that way since she was five-years-old.

READ NOW: The full NAACP resignation letter that Rachel Dolezal wrote

“I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and black curly hair,” Rachel continued. She says she has not deceived people as some say she did. “I do take exception to that because it’s a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of, are you black or white?”

“As much as this discussion has somewhat been at my expense recently, and in a very sort of viciously inhumane way come out of the woodwork, the discussion is really about what it is to be human,” she said. “I hope that that can drive at the core of definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, self determination, personal agency and, ultimately, empowerment.”