The Carrie Chapman Catt Hall renaming issue is about wanting more diversity on campus, Rebecca Walker, author of the book “To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism,” said during her lecture Tuesday night.

“Racism is a bit of a smoke screen,” Walker said.

She said she believes the whole issue of renaming Catt Hall was generated because there are few buildings on campus named after minority groups.

Walker said racism shouldn’t even be a part of the issue. “It just stirs up unnecessary stuff,” she said.

Walker encouraged whites to fight for blacks and minorities, heterosexuals to fight for gays and lesbians and men to fight for feminists.

Walker was at Iowa State Tuesday to discuss her book and the Third Wave Direct Action Corporation. Walker was originally scheduled to speak Wednesday, Oct. 8, during Women’s Week but had to postpone her presentation.

Walker is the daughter of author Alice Walker and is the co-founder of the Third Wave, a small feminist organization that began in 1992.

The Third Wave consists of young multicultural feminists who sponsor charity events and other direct-action events to support women’s organizations.

Walker’s book is a collection of writing from young men and women around the country.

“I started to realize that my expression of feminism was going to look different from my mother’s,” she said.

To dispel the stereotype that all feminists are lesbians in her book, Walker said she included passages that were “super, super hetero.”

Walker asked those who wrote for her book to find a balance between themselves and the politics of feminism.

She said many people feel they need to be totally consumed with feminism in every aspect in order to support it.

For this reason, she said, “People refuse to take on the role of feminism because they don’t want to feel the guilt.”