ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — On Saturday, nearly 300 people attended the NAACP Freedom Fund banquet in Rock Island County.
NAACP President Bonnie Ballard says the event aimed to bring awareness to social issues around various communities.
"We are coming together to for equity and inclusion," Ballard said. "If there are issues, we should be able to work together and solve those issues. Everything has a solution, it's just the matter of finding it."
Jane Elliott, an anti-racism activist and diversity educator, spoke at the event. She is known for her blue eyes/brown eyes exercise that she began in 1968. Since then, she’s been spreading her message across the country that there’s only one race, that being the human race.
She says even at the age of 90, nothing will stop her from fighting against discrimination.
"If we all trace our DNA back, as far as we could, we would find that we have DNA that came from a country in Africa," Elliott said. "It's time for us to get rid of the idea of race."
This week, a biography about Jane Elliott was released. The book is called Shades of Brown and the author of the book, Todd Mealy, says it's the first time a biography was written about Jane Elliott.