THE adopted brother of the white woman who passed herself off as a black civil rights activist has described her behaviour as tantamount to “living in blackface”, referring to the technique used historically by white actors pretending to be black.

Ezra Dolezal, who is African-American, said Rachel Dolezal once asked him not to reveal that her biological parents are white. He said he did not know how to respond on the day three years ago when his sister asked him “not to blow her cover” after claiming her father is black. “It’s kind of a slap in the face to African-Americans because she doesn’t know what it’s like to be black. She’s only been African-American when it benefited her. She hasn’t been through all the struggles. She’s only been ‘African-American’ the last few years,” he said in a newspaper interview at the weekend.

Mr Dolezal said that in 2011 his sister started changing her appearance, darkening and curling her hair, which he called “living in blackface”.

Last week, Ms Dolezal, 37, was exposed as having two Caucasian birth parents, while presenting herself as “black” in her job and her life.

She runs the local branch of the civil rights group of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in Spokane, Washington state. She is also chairman of the police oversight committee, which monitors race relations, and is prominent among black community leaders in the city.

Last night, Ms Dolezal postponed a meeting scheduled for today with the NAACP at which she was due to address the controversy.