An associate professor at George Washington University who specialized in African American studies faked being black for years. Jessica A. Krug admitted her scam in an article published on Medium.com. Krug confessed, “To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness.”
According to Krug’s official biography on the university’s website she’s a historian of politics, ideas, and cultural practices in Africa and the African Diaspora.
To put it simply, Krug is a white woman pretending to be black. Krug blamed mental health issues for her actions. Howver, she said her problems are not an excuse for her actions. “But mental health issues can never, will never, neither explain nor justify, neither condone nor excuse, that, in spite of knowing and regularly critiquing any and every non-Black person who appropriates from Black people, my false identity was crafted entirely from the fabric of Black lives.”
I Have Not Lived A Double Life
While Krug states she’s not making excuse she does refer to childhood trauma and mental health issues multiple times in the article.
She concluded her confession by insisting that she had not led a double life. “I have not lived a double life. There is no parallel form of my adulthood connected to white people or a white community or an alternative white identity. I have lived this lie, fully, completely, with no exit plan or strategy.”
Krug had previously described herself as “an unrepentant and unreformed child of the hood” in an author biography.
“Shocked and Appalled”
It appears that Krug did not notify her employers of her intent to confess publicly. The shortly after her public confession they said, “We are aware of the post by Jessica Krug and are looking into the situation. We cannot comment further on personnel matters.”
The following day, her fellow faculty members said they were “shocked and appalled” by her admission.
In a statement, the department said, “She has betrayed the trust of countless current and former students, fellow scholars of Africana Studies, colleagues in our department and throughout the historical discipline.”
They went on to say that her actions called her research and teaching into question. “Accordingly, the department calls upon Dr. Krug to resign from her position as associate professor of History at GW.” If Krug does not resign, her colleagues want her fired.
This is not the first high-profile case of race-faking in recent years. Five years ago, Spokane, Washington NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal caused similar headlines. A tipster revealed she was actually a white woman. Dolezal insisted that she did not misrepresent herself as she “self-identifies as black.”