Why Did Jessica Krug Create The Jess La Bombera Persona?
A deep look into this disturbing story.
YouTube We've been Rachel Dolezal-ed. Again. In a stunning Medium post, a white George Washington University professor revealed that she was the person behind the popular Jess La Bombera persona. La Bombera was a woman of AfroLatina descent who lived in the Bronx and billed herself as an "unapologetic member of the hood."
Who is Jessica Krug, the woman behind the Jess La Bombera persona?
Jessica Krug, who used the alias Jess La Bombera, is a white woman from Kansas — by her own admission. More egregiously, she hid behind the Jess La Bombera persona knowing that she was engaging in a stereotype.
According to her bio on the George Washington University website, Jessica Krug is "a historian of politics, ideas, and cultural practices in Africa and the African Diaspora, with a particular interest in West Central Africa and maroon societies in the early modern period and Black transnational cultural studies." She has written several articles about Black culture — including one that ties Amadou Diallo to reggae music — as well as two books. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2012.
Who is Jess La Bombera?
In June of 2020, "Jess La Bombera" (who is really Jessica Krug) testified before the NYC City Council via Zoom, in which she addressed such issues as systemic racism, especially as faced by Black and Brown tenants in New York City. She also penned a column for Essence Magazine about Blackness and being Puerto Rican, but it has since been deactivated once the truth of her identity came out. You can check out her testimony before the NYC City Council in the video above. (For what it's worth, it's worth noting that her "Bronx accent" goes in and out, and there are times that you can hear her Midwestern accent.)
What did Jessica Krug's Medium article say?
In a lengthy post that was turned off to comments, Krug admitted that she created the Jess La Bombera persona when she had no right to do so.
"To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then the Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness," she said, adding that she was prompted to come forward because she formed "intimate relationships" with people that she "gaslit" with claims of her Blackness.
Why did Jessica Krug lie about being Black?
While Krug blamed mental illness in her Medium post, she also acknowledged that not even mental illness can excuse — or explain — why she did what she did. However, it goes without saying that the response to this revelation was swift and far from positive.
Jessica Krug has no plans on how to right her wrongs.
The sad part about this whole story is that even though Krug admits she lied and caused harm to people, she has no plan to fix the damage she caused. "There is no way for me to satisfactorily end this statement. This isn’t a confession, it isn’t a public relations move, and it damn sure isn’t a shield. It is the truth, though," she wrote.
Jessica Krug hasn't made a comment about this revelation.
As of this writing, Jessica Krug hasn't made a comment about this revelation, despite being prompted by several outlets to do so. However, we will keep you posted if, indeed, she does make a comment about what she's done.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, photographer and publicist whose work has been featured in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more.