BALTIMORE_The Baltimore Book Festival announced Tuesday that it was removing from its lineup Rachel Dolezal, a controversial author who resigned from her position as an NAACP official after it was revealed that she was a white woman who was representing herself as black.
"A top priority of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts is to listen to our constituents," the Book Festival wrote in a brief and unsigned statement, "and after hearing from a cross-section of opinions on having Rachel Dolezal participate in this year's festival, we had to consider how her appearance may affect both the audience and the other extraordinary authors we have planned for the Baltimore Book Festival. For that reason, we believe it would be appropriate to remove Ms. Dolezal from the festival line up."
Dolezal could not be reached immediately for comment.
When it was announced last week that Dolezal, who formerly headed the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Wash., would be one of the featured national authors presented during the 22nd national festival, it touched off an immediate and visceral response.
A petition was started to persuade BOPA to cancel her appearance and protests were planned.
BOPA, the group that organizes the festival, initially held firm, writing on its Facebook page last week that the goal of the festival was to "provide a platform for relevant and multi-layered conversations" and said that organizers see out works that "expand our understanding of people, places and thinking that may be different than our own."
But, in a meeting Tuesday, the team decided to reverse that decision, according to Bill Gilmore, BOPA's executive director.
