An executive from a Maine health system moonlighting as a “minister” scrubbed her internet presence after a white-shaming sermon was spotlighted.
In Feb. 2021, Ryan Polly was named MaineHealth’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The woman and mother of five children who considers herself a man, as detailed by the University of Vermont Medical Center, has since caused concern after a video reviewed by Fox News showed her encouraging others to be made uncomfortable by their “whiteness.”
“As the head of the diversity, equity and inclusion at a major health system, I think frequently about my role as white person first and as a diversity leader second. I think about the responsibility I have to continue the deep internal work of…understanding my own racist narrative and biases,” Polly could be heard saying as part of what Fox News described as “an antiracist prayer service.”
According to UVM, “Polly was ordained through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in NYC as an interfaith/interspiritual minister,” in 2018. “Polly now offers coaching and spiritual counseling pro bono for leaders in smaller non-profit organizations and recently founded Community Inspired, a spiritually informed community group developed to create a loving community inspired to learn together and take action toward social action and service.”
The release also claimed Polly saw her role as “creating a workplace where [her] colleagues feel comfortable and free to express themselves,” as she did in the prayer service where she reportedly said, “I think about the privilege my whiteness affords me and the choices whiteness allows me to have…My whiteness keeps me and my family safe.”
“This evening has been designed with white people in mind not to take the stage,” Polly told attendees. “We have plenty of places to take the stage. We [need] to…begin the work to join the fight…We need to ensure we…do the work to challenge our ignorance, our biases and the racist thoughts that we’ve acquired through the life of whiteness.”
“Let us develop the courage to dive [into] deeply experienced discomfort. Let’s sit with it…knowing that the answers come not from our own conscious thinking because that thinking is shaped by racist constructs,” she suggested. “The answers lie deeper. Let us leave with the tenacity to become anti-racist and continue the fight, even on the days when we could simply choose not to. Amen.”
Fox News noted that Polly’s YouTube channel had been deleted after they had reached out for comment and the prayer service had been made private. A statement from MaineHealth defended their DEI vice president and said, “Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion stems from our organizational values, mission and vision. This work strengthens our connections with patients and ultimately helps us to deliver higher-quality care. Consistent with our value of Respect and our role as an institution of learning, we welcome and encourage divergent viewpoints and dialogue among our patients and care team.”
Meanwhile, a source described as an “insider” with MaineHealth expressed to Fox News that the attitudes conveyed by Polly lined up with her efforts to fulfill a leftist agenda with the non-profit health system that has roughly 20,000 employees.
“It certainly explains a lot about why Polly has relentlessly pushed a DEI agenda at MaineHealth for the past two and a half years,” the source said. “Left unchecked, this dangerous messaging will lead to even more division and distrust.”
Fox News also reported that the “insider called for MaineHealth to immediately remove Polly, ‘and get back to the business of taking care of patients.'”
Polly had also gone on record calling for white people to undergo “sensitivity” training, leading Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of Do No Harm to tell WFVX, “Polly describes the working environment at Maine Medical Center as if we were living in the 1930s. He assumes that critical race theory is at work in his institution and that his only relationship with Black individuals is as an oppressor. This leads to him demeaning himself and his institution.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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