WASHINGTON: Local NAACP leader accused of “falsely portraying herself as black for years.”

Dolezal, 37, avoided answering questions directly about her race and ethnicity . . .

“That question is not as easy as it seems,” she said after being contacted at Eastern Washington University, where she’s a part-time professor in the Africana Studies Program. “There’s a lot of complexities … and I don’t know that everyone would understand that.”

Later, in an apparent reference to studies tracing the scientific origins of human life to Africa, Dolezal added: “We’re all from the African continent.” . . .

Members of her family are challenging her very identity, saying she has misrepresented major portions of her life.

Dolezal’s mother, Ruthanne Dolezal, said Thursday by phone from her home in Northwest Montana that she has had no contact with her daughter in years. She said her daughter began to “disguise herself” in 2006 or 2007, after the family had adopted four African-American children.