Rachel Dolezal — the white NAACP leader who pretended to be black for years — has reportedly changed her name to a West African moniker meaning “gift of God.”
The 39-year-old will now be called Nkechi Amare Diallo, according to the Daily Mail.
Legal documents obtained by the British outlet show that she legally changed her name in a Washington state court back in October.
Nkechi, which is short for Nkechinyere, originates from the Igbo language of Nigeria and translates to “what God has given” or “gift of God,” the Mail reports. Diallo, or “bold,” is ultimately of Fula origin. The Muslim ethnic group is said to have roots in the Middle East and West Africa.
In her goal to achieve her 'blackness' she also had some plastic surgery.
Dolezal — the former president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter and a one-time professor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University — reportedly has fallen on hard times since being exposed by her parents as white in June 2015.
Speaking to The Guardian last week, the disgraced civil rights advocate described how she had been unable to find a job or pay her rent in recent months.
After her name change, she attempted to use her new identity to try to garner some positive attention, the Mail reports.
Dolezal started a Change.org petition in October, requesting that the TEDx organization post a controversial speech she apparently gave in April 2016 at the University of Idaho.
The petition was listed under the name Nkechi Diallo — and didn’t mention her birth name.
While Dolezal only managed to get 30 of the 100 required signatures, TED decided to post the video anyway.
“Refusing to post it would unduly limit an important conversation about identity, and the social underpinning of race — and would be counter to TED’s guiding philosophy of radical openness,” the organization said.
Dolezal, who once sued the historically black Howard University for racial discrimination, is slated to release a memoir next month, titled “In Full Color,” which will outline her life.
She told The Guardian last week that despite what people say, she still believes she’s not white.
“I do think a more complex label would be helpful, but we don’t really have that vocabulary,” Dolezal explained. “I feel like the idea of being trans-black would be much more accurate than ‘I’m white.’ Because, you know, I’m not white … Calling myself black feels more accurate than saying I’m white.”
