Jessica Krug: why did the white George Washington University professor pretend to be black - and who is Rachel Dolezal?

Jessica Krug’s case has been compared to that of race activist Rachel Dolezal
Jessica Krug has described her life as “a violent anti-black lie" (Duke University Press)Jessica Krug has described her life as “a violent anti-black lie" (Duke University Press)
Jessica Krug has described her life as “a violent anti-black lie" (Duke University Press)

A professor at George Washington University has admitted she lied about being black.

Jessica Krug, 38, whose work focuses on the African diaspora revealed that she was in fact a white Jewish woman from Kansas.

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Writing on Medium, Krug said that she had lived her life on “a violent anti-black lie”.

Parallels have been drawn between Krug's case and that of Rachel Dolezal (Netflix)Parallels have been drawn between Krug's case and that of Rachel Dolezal (Netflix)
Parallels have been drawn between Krug's case and that of Rachel Dolezal (Netflix)

Krug’s case draws a resemblance to that of race activist Rachel Dolezal who claimed she was black.

What did Jessica Krug write?

In her Medium post Krug was self-critical of her behaviour, describing her fraudulence as “violent” and “appropriation”.

The professor opened her piece with the line: “For the better part of my adult life, every move I’ve made, every relationship I’ve formed, has been rooted in the napalm toxic soil of lies.”

She said that she had assumed identities “that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness".

She described the assumption of identities as the “very epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures”.

Krug admits to betraying people close to her by misleading them over her identity.

I have formed intimate relationships with loving, compassionate people who have trusted and cared for me when I have deserved neither trust nor caring,” she said.

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People have fought together with me and have fought for me, and my continued appropriation of a Black Caribbean identity is not only, in the starkest terms, wrong — unethical, immoral, anti-Black, colonial — but it means that every step I’ve taken has gaslighted those whom I love.”

Explaining her actions, Krug said that she had been living with mental health issues caused by childhood trauma.

She wrote: “Mental health issues likely explain why I assumed a false identity initially, as a youth, and why I continued and developed it for so long; the mental health professionals from whom I have been so belatedly seeking help assure me that this is a common response to some of the severe trauma that marked my early childhood and teen years.”

Who is Jessica Krug?

According to her profile on the George Washington University website Krug “is a historian of politics, ideas, and cultural practices in Africa and the African Diaspora, with a particular interest in West Central Africa and maroon societies in the early modern period and Black transnational cultural studies.”

The professor earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 and contributed to the paper Remembering Africa and Its Diasporas: Memory, Public History and Representations of the Past shortly after.

In a video posted earlier this year the prominent activist exclaimed that it was time for white New Yorkers to "yield their time for Black and Brown indigenous New Yorkers".

In activist circles Ms Krug has identified herself as Jess La Bombalera.

George Washington University have said they are aware of Ms. Krug’s case but will not be commenting further at this stage.

Who is Rachel Dolezal?

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Race activist Rachel Dolezal rose to prominence in 2015 when her parents revealed that she was white, despite her claiming to be black.

Once a civil rights activist, Dolezal said she “identified as black” keeping up the pretence that she was African American for years.

Dolezal was in fact raised by white parents Ruthanne and Lawrence Dolezal. They also adopted African-American children whom Rachel was raised with. Dolezal claims that she has identified since she was a 5-year-old.

Critics of Dolezal said that she had committed fraud and appropriation. A police investigation concluded that Dolezal had engaged in "a pattern of misconduct".

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