Video After The Jump
(CNN) A family member of the George Washington University professor who revealed that she had been lying about being Black for years says they're outraged.
University officials have said Jessica Krug will no longer teach classes this semester. She was a professor of African and Latin American studies.
Krug's sister-in-law, who did not want to be identified, told CNN that her husband has been estranged from his sister for 20 years. She said Krug is as "white as snow white."
"There's no way she's Black, I can tell you that, there's no member of the family that is Black," the sister-in-law said, confirming that her husband and Krug are Jewish and grew up in Kansas. "Our last name is tarnished, and all my husband and I want to do is cry our eyes out right now. I can only imagine my father-in-law rolling around in his grave."
She said they were unaware that she was lying about her race until they received a call from a reporter Thursday evening.
Krug triggered headlines around the globe last week after she posted a blog on Medium that claimed she was in fact white despite having lived most of her adult life “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”.
Krug blamed “unaddressed mental health demons” dating back to childhood and said she frequently thought of confessing the deception, “but my cowardice was always more powerful than my ethics.”
George Washington University issued the following:
The members of the faculty of The George Washington University Department of History are shocked and appalled by Dr. Jessica Krug’s admission on September 3, 2020 that she has lied about her identity for her entire career. With what she has termed her “audaciously deceptive” appropriation of an Afro-Caribbean identity, 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, as well as community activists in New York City and beyond. The discipline of history is concerned with truth telling about the past. With her conduct, Dr. Krug has raised questions about the veracity of her own research and teaching. Accordingly, the department calls upon Dr. Krug to resign from her position as associate professor of History at GW. Failing that, the department recommends the rescinding of her tenure and the termination of her appointment.
Follow Me
}
Comments