OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha residents have raised concerns about a visit from Rachel Dolezal, who resigned as president of an NAACP chapter in Washington last year after it was revealed that she was a white person posing as black.
The Omaha World-Herald http://bit.ly/1XL3S4j reported that a decision by a University of Nebraska Medical Center professor, Dr. Renaisa S. Anthony, to bring her to Omaha to talk about race sparked a backlash on social media.
Anthony said she organized an invitation-only dinner with Dolezal for 25 people, including faculty, students and people from the community, as part of the university’s series of events called “Race-Inclusion-Diversity & Equity.”
Anthony welcomed the controversy, saying that she sought a “polarizing national figure” to attract people’s attention and start a conversation.
“Isn’t it great?” Anthony said Wednesday. “It’s time that we talk about race, inclusion, diversity and equity, starting in my own backyard.”
Anthony said that minorities are under-represented among the medical center’s students and faculty, and that the city and state have disparities in health among various races.
Peggy Jones, an associate professor in the Black Studies Department and associate director of women’s and gender studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said that the event started a conversation, but not the one that Anthony said she wanted.
