MLK Day speakers captivate crowd

UNMC’s Rubens Pamies, M.D., left, with three of the four Warren siblings: Brenda Council, Debbie Warren White and Thomas Warren. Their brother, Willis Jr., died in 2001.

No one deserves more credit for building their character than their parents, said Attorney Brenda Warren Council and her brother, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren.

“Who I am today is attributed to them,” Chief Warren told a crowd of nearly 350 people who gathered in the Storz Pavilion at The Nebraska Medical Center Monday for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration. Seated in the front row, Debbie Warren White, another Warren sibling, shook her head in agreement.

The Warrens were invited to speak because they exemplify the qualities Martin Luther King Jr. referred to when he dreamed his four children would one day be judged by the content of their character and not just the color of their skin, said Walter Brooks, chairman of the Employee Diversity Network, the organization that sponsored the event, along with The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC.

Brenda Council, foreground, and her younger brother, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren, background, delivered the 2005 Martin Luther King Jr. presentation.

“What Dr. King wanted us to do is raise our children with good character,” Council said “Our ability to achieve his dream rests within each and every one of us.”

Council and Warren agreed their parents, Evelyn and Willis Warren Sr., instilled in them a strong sense of self-identity, the determination to succeed and the compassion to always help others.

“Our father, who worked for 40 years in a packing house, wasn’t well educated but he did attend one-year of college and he was determined that his four children would get an education,” Council said.

While their father was a strict disciplinarian who insisted that his children give 100 percent, Warren said, he also was fair, objective and impartial. Their mother, Warren said, provided the family with an unconditional love that inspired him to always do better.
Their parents also taught the siblings the value of helping others.

Thomas Warren shares tales of his childhood.

“Service to others was as essential as eating and sleeping,” said Council, as she recalled the numerous times she and her siblings helped an elderly neighbor who lived across the street.

“Even if we didn’t want to,” Council said, “we would take out her trash, feed her dog or go to the grocery store for her because we were taught to respect our elders.”

Among the many lessons their parents taught them, she said, one still stands out.
“My father told me, ‘You cannot afford to be average,’ ” Council said. “Unfortunately, the United States is a country still preoccupied with race. People of color have to not only be better in terms of achievement but maintain a higher standard of character and make sure that those standards are passed on to their children.”

Through years of volunteer work with Omaha’s youth, Chief Warren said he always tells young people to “be disciplined, give 110 percent, know right from wrong and be in a position to take advantage of opportunities as they are presented to you.”

As the first black police chief in Omaha, Warren said he is proud of the diversity within the police department and says it reflects the community. Warren also said it is his goal to promote equality and due process for all, effect positive change that will promote a better quality of life for Omaha and improve police and community relations.

“I’m extremely proud of the men and women of the Omaha Police Department,” Warren said. “I love my job and I love serving the people of this community.”