Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who went viral for proclaiming to be a Black “transracial” woman, is stepping back into the spotlight thanks to a new Netflix documentary.
Dolezal rose to fame in 2015 after the former Spokane, Wa. NAACP head was outed as having white parents. She has since maintained that despite growing up as a white woman, she feels as if she is truly African-American.
While it may seem as if the single mother has largely faded into the background, a Netflix press release for the upcoming doc, “The Rachel Divide,” says director Laura Brownson has been exclusively filming Dolezal, her sons and her adopted sister for two years.
A clip dropped ahead of the doc’s April 27 release shows Dolezal discussing her controversy with her biological son, Franklin, who is worried that it “might just backfire like everything else has backfired.”
“I’m putting my kids out there, I’m putting Esther out there,” Dolezal tearfully explains to the camera. “It’s hard and I’m trying to be the gatekeeper and keep it in. It’s like handing it over to somebody and just, like, be a wrecking ball.”
Online, Twitter users have been sharing their irritation over Dolezal continuing to be given a platform.
“Hey @Netflix, Rachel Dolezal doesn’t need a documentary streamed on your site. She’s fraudulent and problematic,” one person tweeted. “Why don’t you take all that money and put it towards projects made by real Black women?”
“All of these amazing directors, producers and cinematographers of color out here with brilliant stories to tell and wishing to just meet someone from @netflix and this happens,” someone else similarly remarked. “Wild.”
“The ultimate proof that Rachel Dolezal is a white woman is Netflix giving her a documentary after her book sold triple toilet paper,” someone said, referencing her memoir released last year.
Another just felt sorry for Dolezal’s son.
“I watched this ready to make some snarky joke but honestly I just feel really really bad for Rachel Dolezal’s kid who clearly wants no part of this documentary and is old enough to make that very clear,” she tweeted.
Still, others had more light-hearted responses.
Netflix has a documentary about Rachel Dolezal coming out?#TheRachelDivide pic.twitter.com/b5PDX2eWV1
— rosechocglam (@rosechocglam) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/DrTGIF/status/971589820735721472
https://twitter.com/theblackmurse/status/971513534101278720
