Prominent human rights attorney who claimed to be Latina admits she is a white woman from Georgia
A prominent human rights lawyer and former president of the National Lawyers Guild has admitted that she is not Latina, but in fact a white woman from Georgia.
Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, senior counsel at the Latino Justice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, claimed Puerto Rican and Colombian heritage, according to Prism.
Records obtained by the site say Bannan's family in fact arrived in the United States from Ireland, Italy and Russia, and she was born in Georgia.
The 43-year-old responded to the report this week and confirmed that she is white.
'I am racially white and have always said that,' she said on Monday. 'However, my cultural identity was formed as a result of my family, both chosen and chosen for me, and that has always been Latinx.
'My identity is my most authentic expression of who I am and how I pay honor to the people who have formed me since I was a child.'
Bannan is the latest in a growing line of people to be revealed as having assumed a false racial identity, including Alec Baldwin's wife Hilaria and her recent Spanish scandal.
Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, 43, has admitted that she is not Latina having assumed the identity
Bannan admitted in response to an article that she was a white woman born in Georgia
Hilaria was 'outed' on December 21 as being a white woman from Boston, known until 2009 as Hilary, whose parents happen to live in Spain.
Meanwhile, back in 2015 Rachel Dolezal sparked controversy and was slammed as a 'race faker' for claiming she 'identified as black' despite being born to white parents.
Bannan said that she had dedicated herself to 'using my privilege as a racially white, US-based woman to denounce the aggressions of this country.'
On social media, people were unimpressed.
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Share'"Racially white". Girl, please stop,' one responded to her.
'What the hell is that? She's white,' said another.
One accused her of 'tryna Dolezal your way out through this'.
It comes just weeks after Hilaria Baldwin became embroiled in scandal when accusations about her Spanish heritage first went viral on Twitter - prompting furious speculation that the Massachusetts native has been faking her European background.
It prompted dozens of people to find examples of Baldwin using a Spanish accent, a jarring contrast to her childhood in Boston where she was known as Hillary and considered white by her classmates.
Several videos of Hilaria's past TV appearances resurfaced showing her commitment to a Spanish accent, including one Today show segment during which she seemingly forgot the English word for 'cucumber'.
At first, she denied the allegations, stating that it was only 'Fake Twitter accounts accusing me of a fake identity!' but she was later forced to back down and reveal more about her Massachusetts background after thousands of comments.
'Yes, I am a white girl. I am a white girl. Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there and my family is white,' she said in an Instagram video.
'Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally, I grew up with two cultures so it's really as simple as that.'
Hilaria said that she is a bilingual speaker and claimed that she speaks English in varying degrees of a Spanish accent depending on her emotions at the time, in response to the numerous videos showcasing her changing accent.
She also spoke to the New York Times for an interview, during which she blamed the media for 'misrepresenting' her as Spanish and causing 'confusion' about her heritage.
Bannan (third from left) claimed Puerto Rican and Colombian heritage for over a decade
INFAMOUS 'RACE FAKERS' IN THE US
Rachel Dolezal - former college professor and NAACP activist known for identifying as a black woman despite having been born to white parents. She was 'outed' in 2015.
Jessica Krug - a white professor of African American studies at George Washington University confessed in a Medium post earlier in September 2020 that she had been faking being black for years, and was in fact a Jewish woman from Kansas.
Satchuel Cole - born Jennifer Lynn Benton, the Indiana-based activist and member of Black Lives Matter admitted in a Facebook post in September 2020 to having 'taken up space as a Black person while knowing I am white'.
CV Vitolo-Haddad - she resigned from her teaching job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after admitting in September 2020 that she pretended on multiple occasions to be black or Latino. She is actually Southern Italian and Sicilian.
Hilaria Baldwin - the wife of actor Alec Baldwin was born in Boston to American parents, but changed her name from Hilary in 2009. She has claimed to be Spanish, because her parents live there and she spent time there as a child. She was 'outed' in December 2020.
Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan - in January 2021 the prominent human rights lawyer admitted that she was not a Latina, but was born to white parents in Georgia.
<!- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->Advertisement'Race faking' has become a frequent phenomena in the United States.
Just last September, a community activist from Indiana who campaigned for racial justice outed herself after posing as a black person for years despite being white.
Satchuel Cole, born Jennifer Lynn Benton, admitted in a Facebook post to having 'taken up space as a Black person while knowing I am white'.
The activist, from Indianapolis, was a member of the Indy10 Black Lives Matter group and in 2017 acted as a spokesperson for the family of Aaron Bailey, who was shot and killed by police following a traffic stop in June 2017.
Cole - who uses the pronouns they and them - is just the latest in a string of people who have admitted to lying about being black.
'Friends, I need to take accountability for my actions and the harm that I have done,' Cole wrote on a Facebook page with the name Satch Paige.
'My deception and lies have hurt those I care most about. I have taken up space as a black person while knowing I am white. I have used blackness when it was not mine to use.
'I have asked for support and energy as a Black person. I have caused harm to the city, friends and the work that I held so dear. I will do the work to take responsibility for my actions and try to reduce the harm that I have already caused.'
Cole promised to work to repair the harm caused if possible.
The same week, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student CV Vitolo-Haddad resigned from a teaching role after admitting to lying about being black.
Vitolo-Haddad pretended on multiple occasions to be black or Latino although the teacher is actually Southern Italian and Sicilian.
Vitolo-Haddad confessed to the deception in two Medium blog posts and apologized for 'every ounce of heartbreak and betrayal' caused by the false claims.
'In trying to sort through parts of who I am, I've taken some very wrong turns. I never really owned up to them as they became apparent, nor recognized the trail of damage behind me,' Vitolo-Haddad wrote.
Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Alec Baldwin, became embroiled in scandal when accusations about her Spanish heritage first went viral on Twitter - prompting furious speculation that the Massachusetts native has been faking her European background
Satchuel Cole, who was born Jennifer Lynn Benton, was a member of the Indy10 Black Lives Matter group and in 2017 acted as a spokesperson for the family of Aaron Bailey, who was shot and killed by police following a traffic stop in June 2017.
Jessica Krug, 38, a white professor of African American studies confessed in a Medium post earlier in September that she had been faking being black for years.
The professor at George Washington University admitted she had deceived colleagues and students for years.
Krug grew up as a white Jewish child in Kansas City but assumed a series of different black identities throughout her career, she confessed in a Medium blog post on September 3.
Krug resigned from her role at the university following a backlash over the deception.
Michelle Moyd, the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor in the Department of History at IU, said that the recent spike in the exposure of race fakers will have extremely negative effects on the black community.
'Each time one of these frauds is exposed, the people around them are left to pick up the pieces,' she said.
CV Vitolo-Haddad (pictured), a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student, has resigned from a teaching role after admitting to lying about being black
Dr Jessica Krug resigned from George Washington University after lying about being black
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