SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Organizers for Dreamweek San Antonio have rescinded an invitation to Nkechi Diallo, formerly known as Rachel Dolezal, after a petition received more than 1,000 signatures.
- More than 1,000 signatures
- Uninvited to panel
- Event screening movie about Dolezal
Diallo is a white woman who was famously outed for pretending to be black. In 2015, Diallo resigned as president of the Spokane Washington chapter of the NAACP after it was revealed she was born to white parents in Montana.
This Sunday, Dreamweek is hosting a screening of The Rachel Divide, a film about the controversy surrounding Diallo. Organizers had invited Diallo to speak on a panel following the movie screening.
San Antonio resident Kirsten L. Thompson created a petition on change.org urging Dreamweek to remove Diallo from the schedule.
“We take tremendous issue with Dolezal being given both an audience and opportunity to further monetize her exploitation of Black women and the community at large,” said Thompson. “We will not — under the guise of enlightenment or egalitarianism — accept a woman who is a proven fraud lecturing us about her experience.”
The petition has received more than 1,000 signatures.
On Friday DreamVoice, the organizers of Dreamweek, decided to uninvite Diallo in response to the petition. A message on the Dreamweek website says the following:
“DreamVoice (presenters of DreamWeek) feel that the continued negative attention is a distraction from the many excellent and varied presentations on the 2019 DWSA schedule.”
The Rachel Divide will screen at the Alamo Draft House at 618 NW Loop 410 on Sunday at 4 p.m.