And she admitted to it on this very platform.

Ifyou didn’t think that many people pay attention to the goings-on of the Medium writing space, think again.

Recently, an associate university professor named Jessica Krug at George Washington University, who teaches African-American History, outed herself in an article on this very platform for pretending to be a Black woman for decades, when in all actuality she is a Caucasian, Jewish woman from Kansas City.

An outspoken activist, who until now has used the name Jessica Labombalera, Krug spoke at Black Lives Matter protests presenting herself as a Black woman.

She even wrote a book called, “Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom”, where she speaks of her “Black ancestors” (who, to clarify, do not exist in her known ancestral heritage) and writes “love letters” to them.

Just this last week, Krug admitted in a Medium blog post that she has spent her entire career posing as a Black woman.

Note: Jessica Krug is not part of the Medium Partner Program, and her article is not monetized. She will not directly gain financially through this platform if you so choose to read her post below post. Comments have been disabled by the author:

The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies

For the better part of my adult life, every move I’ve made, every relationship I’ve formed, has been rooted in the…

In this piece, Krug admits that she took on a fake identity as her own, posing as a Black woman, and that she recognizes now just how harmful that falsity has been.

She names several of the false cultural histories and identities she has claimed in her lifetime, and described her own behavior as the “very epitome of violence, thievery, and appropriation of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures”.

Krug, for the most part, blames her choice to take on this fake racial identity on several mental health issues, while also acknowledging responsibility for her actions.

If this feels like déjà vu, that’s because it is.

If this story sounds at all familiar, you’ve definitely heard about it before. The first instance in public media of a Caucasian woman intentionally deceiving others and posing as a Black woman took place with Rachel Dolezal in 2015.

Rachel Dolezal, Who Pretended to Be Black, Is Charged With Welfare Fraud

For years, Rachel Dolezal led a secret life in the Pacific Northwest. Her friends believed she was a black woman with a…

Rachel Dolezal was recognized as a prominent Black member and activist in her Montana community, was a college instructor, and even held the position of president for her local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter.

She was outed by her own parents in the media when they confirmed that she was indeed born to two white parents, and was falsely misrepresenting her race.

After this admission by her biological parents, Dolezal (who claimed to be both bi-racial and a victim of racial-related hate crimes) resigned from her position in the NAACP. She was later dismissed from her position as a college instructor following the controversy.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2015, Dolezal unapologetically stood by what she refers to as her “authentic identity”:

“It’s not a costume. I don’t know spiritually and metaphysically how this goes, but I do know that from my earliest memories I have awareness and connection with the black experience, and that’s never left me. It’s not something that I can put on and take off anymore. Like I said, I’ve had my years of confusion and wondering who I really [was] and why and how do I live my life and make sense of it all, but I’m not confused about that any longer. I think the world might be — but I’m not.” — Vanity Fair interveiw with Rachel Dolezal

This massive controversy went on to open an international debate about racial identity, citing Dolezal’s actions as cultural appropriation and fraud. That said, there were supporters as well who argued that Dolezal was entitled to her own self-identification, and was entitled to the same rights as transgender individuals, labelling Dolezal’s identity as being “transracial”.

Dolezal, again, still feels that to this day she has not deceived anyone. She continued in the Vanity Fair interview:

“It’s taken my entire life to negotiate how to identify, and I’ve done a lot of research and a lot of studying. I could have a long conversation, an academic conversation about that. I don’t know. I just feel like I didn’t mislead anybody; I didn’t deceive anybody. If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe that’s more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity or honesty, because I wouldn’t say I’m African American, but I would say I’m black, and there’s a difference in those terms.” — Vanity Fair interveiw with Rachel Dolezal

That said, despite standing by her self-perceived racial identity, in 2018 Dolezal was charged by the State of Washington with felony theft by welfare fraud and second-degree perjury.

She agreed to a plea deal in regard to that felony charge.

From Rachel Dolezal to Jessica Krug… what is going on here?

As a white woman, I’m not an expert on what this all means, and cannot really speak to any sort of legitimate narrative. For that reason, I am citing the insights from People of Color who have commented on this matter on social media. Here is what they’re saying about why how racial impersonation is so incredibly damaging and harmful, and how these women got away with their deceit for so long.

Mukoma Wa Ngugi, an Associate Professor at Cornell who actually went to grad school with Krug, sums up the hypocrisy and historical complexities related to Krug’s fronting as a Black woman throughout her academic career:

Screenshot of tweets from MukomaWaNgugi

Tweet content:

What has been missing in the debate around #JessicaKrug is that she wore her blackfaces in order to pass in front of white gatekeepers at every stage in her academic career. The history dept at UW-Madison was mostly white, so her admissions committee was mostly white.

She was playing black to those that mattered the most and would question the least. And black and people color along the way were collateral damage, part of her act. In other words the story is not about her but about just how white African studies and academia in general are.

Further, Wagatwe Wanjuki, Award-winning antirape activist, writer & educator, lays out in a tweet the cold truth of why Krug was able to get away with her deceit:

Screenshot from tweet by Wagatwe Wanjuki on Twitter

Tweet content:

and the thing about Jessica Krug and other white women pretending to be Black is that their success depends on the your continued failure to actually see Black women as full human beings. You don’t see us beyond caricatures.

may seem random to bring up, but it’s all connected.

These insights are so important and must be given great attention in these conversations of why it’s considered unethical for White people to take on a “racial identity” as a POC.

If offensive conduct were defined as appropriate or inappropriate by the perpetrator themselves, rather than by those the offence hurts most, then those in the greatest, automatic privilege would continue to rise, avoid accountability and silence those who have been wronged.

As a survivor of sexual assault who also retains privilege in that case as a White woman, the closest example I can relate to this point is imagining a sexual assault case being taken to court. During the trial, imagine that more credibility is offered to the offender who admits to the act but “didn’t believe it was assault” and thus in their opinion it wasn’t an attack or violation, rather than paying proper respect and attention to the survivor who was violated by this offender’s blatant entitlement.

The rules of what’s right and wrong cannot be chosen by those who commit the offences, disregarding the pain and struggle of the victims of these crimes. To believe so is simply wrong — and yet it happens all the time.

Jessica Krug, in this case at least, acknowledges the harm she has committed through her deceit, resigned from her position, and while no real action could ever make any of this right, has at least accepted responsibility.

Rachel Dolezal, on the other hand, remains unapologetic in her stance of believing she didn’t mislead anyone about her race or cause any real harm because she feels her identity is her own and shouldn’t be subject to the opinions of any other person. This very harmful belief touches on this same issue of a person of great privilege (as a born Caucasian woman in a first-world country) believing that she has not committed any wrong simply because of her own perspective or opinion, despite the severe harm and damage it causes others.

This is exactly why White people must stop feeling entitled to make up the rules of what is justly offensive or harmful to POC… because frankly, entirely due to our own immense and abundant privilege, we cannot even begin to understand the complexities at play.

In these cases, it is our job to listen, learn and educate ourselves based on the insights from those who are most affected by the inequality within our world.