Life-Long Antiracist Fighting for Native American Health & Wellbeing

Donna Polk, PhD, moved to segregated North Omaha in the early 1964; was stalked for 17 years by the Leader of the Nebraska Klu Klux Klan who wanted her dead; volunteered for 26 years inside the NE Department of Corrections; was the first person of color to work in the business office at Northwestern Bell; volunteered as a labor activist; and was the State of Nebraska’s first-ever equal opportunity employment officer. Now in 2022, Dr. Polk has started her 31^st year as CEO of the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition. As a lifetime advocate for oppressed people, Dr. Polk says her work in antiracism and racial equity has been galvanized by all the above experiences and more.

Please join MORE for a virtual community forum with Dr. Polk, April 12^th from 7:00 to 8:00pm, via Zoom. This interview and open dialog is free and open to the public.

MORE board members, Alex Johnson and Karen Abrams, will interview Dr. Polk about how her personal and professional history with racism and oppression has animated her activism in antiracism and racial equity work. And, they will discuss what needs to happen to spur those most affected by these issues to respond, to participate in, and to come together to address racial equity and antiracism as a community.

“We were a military family that moved to 2906 Patrick Ave. (OHA Projects) in segregated North Omaha in 1964.” Although assigned to a Nike-Hercules missile site in Louisville, NE, Polk says her husband was told, “colored people can’t live there.” Living in North Omaha, Polk talks about how, “back then, there was what we called ‘Black City Hall’” at the old Fair Deal restaurant on North 24^th St., where community leaders – the movers and shakers, regardless of income – came to talk things out. “That’s where you found out what was going on. That’s where you decided how to get involved.”

Though a lot has changed, too much has stayed the same when it comes to racism and racial equity, Polk says. “Now they’ve got all these DEI [diversity equity and inclusion] officers getting hired after the murder of George Floyd,” but it doesn’t feel like there’s been enough antiracist evolution since 1972 when Polk was hired by the Nebraska Department of Labor as the state’s very first Equal Opportunity Employment Officer. “I didn’t have any real power then,” she says, adding that it’s hard to see much power being given to today’s new DEI officers, either.

This event will also be livestreamed via MORE’s Facebook page.

Racism Animates her Activism

A Life-Long Antiracist Fighting for Native American Health & Wellbeing

Team Members