The parents of a prominent civil rights advocate in Spokane, Washington claim that their daughter has been deceiving the African American community into believing that she is a Black woman.

Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP who claims to be a bi-racial woman who identifies as Black. However, her estranged parents revealed on Thursday that she is actually white and is "being dishonest and deceptive with her identity."

Her parents said that Dolezal's birth certificate states she was born to two Caucasian parents.

"We are her birth parents," her father, Lawrence Dolezal, told CNN on Friday. "We do not understand why she feels it's necessary to misrepresent her ethnicity."

Although the Dolezals said they do not have a problem with Rachel advocating for the advancement of African Americans, they said they find it problematic that she is being deceptive about it.

"Rachel has wanted to be somebody she's not. She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true," said Ruthanne Dolezal, according to NBC affiliate KREM.

According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper, the human rights activist has said that controversy surrounding her racial identity has to do a family fight over alleged abuse.

Despite the controversy and the backlash that Dolezal has received for allegedly lying about her race, the NAACP is standing behind her. The group, which is one of the most prominent organizations in supporting the African-American community, said Friday that Dolezal is "enduring a legal issue with her family" and that "we respect her privacy in this matter."

"One's racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership," the group said in a statement. "The NAACP Alaska-Oregon-Washington State Conference stands behind Ms. Dolezal's advocacy record."