Resegregation in Omaha

Okay, I've had a large glass of wine tonight and I'm up late reading the NY Times. Am I seeing things or does this article actually say that the Omaha, NE school districts have been resegregated to white, black and hispanic and that the measure has been signed into law by the governor.

The law, which opponents are calling state-sponsored segregation, has thrown Nebraska into an uproar, prompting fierce debate about the value of integration versus what Mr. Chambers [Nebraska's only black state senator] calls a desire by blacks to control a school district in which their children are a majority.

Civil rights scholars call the legislation the most blatant recent effort in the nation to create segregated school systems or, as in Omaha, to resegregate districts that had been integrated by court order. Omaha ran a mandatory busing program from 1976 to 1999.

Yes, this can be seen as blacks and hispanics taking back control over their school districts in a predominantly white city. But I see this with national reprecussions where it will be used as a tool to resegregate.

Remember in 1948 when Strom Thurmond was nominated by the States Right Democratic Party standing on the platform that:

We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race...

The same Thurmond who gave a rousing speech during that 1948 campaign stating

I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.

The same Thurmond who spoke for over twenty-four hours in the longest filibuster [the old school way of just blowing hot air] ever on the Senate floor to try to derail the Civil Rights Act. Who will use this Omaha school districting to be our generation's Strom Thurmond? Will it be Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel?

And as a side note, did anyone know that former Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne is a Republican Congressman from NE-03?

Comments

[Rep. Mark B. Cohen]

I agree with you: this is not good news. An almost all black school district is still likely going to need some white educators to perform various functions (Philadelphia is a clear example of this), thus giving students exposure to white adults, but segregating the student body has long range consequences. It is one thing for school segregation to exist because of the demographics of a neighborhood, and something else for the state to redraw the lines to keep black kids and white kids and Latino kids apart.

At the end of the day it matterss far less who was in charge of a district at a specific place or a specific time than whether or not the students were prepared for 21st Century Multiracial America. This is a step backwards for such preparation, and an indictment of the limits of the vision of Nebraska Senator Ernie Chambers, the man who came up with this idea and has an outstanding record as a progressive iconoclast on many other issues.

[H. L. Marable]

This man is sick. Is he ON drugs or does he need drugs? What's he smoking? Whatever it is, please don't pass it around. Where do they find these people?

[KIMBERLY DAVIS]

i know you all have heard this comment several times already but i have to say, omaha does not only consist of hispanics,whites, and blacks. it too has many cultures. where do those children go of asian, arabic, etc. and what about the children who are bi-racial. i think this whole thing is sick and sedistic. whose ever idea this was is no better than hitler himself. this is coming from a women who is multiracial. i am hatian-french(creole)and scotish and german, african american. black is on my birth certificate so if i was still in high school it would not be heard for me to decide. but these days everything is on our childrens birth certicate.

[D. Cooperwood]

I think the best idea is to obtain a copy of the bill, read it, and then formulate an opinion and/or argument. How many people were in an uproar when they ended busing? This is what resegregated the school system. I am not saying I am for or against this bill because I have yet to read it. What I am against is making an opinion based upon second-hand information that may be unintentionally or intentionally leaving things out. I intend to quickly obtain a copy of LB 1024 and I encourage everyone else to do the same.

[CT]

I live in the area where this bill is affecting people. This is bill is better than the alternative - being part of the OPS district. The programs that schools like Millard, Westside, and Elkhorn districts have would most likely go downhill if the bill went OPS's way.

This is not about resegregation. Omaha, along with countless other cities, have been segregated after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1963. Mainly, it is due to money issues. OPS is mainly in the northern part of Omaha, with some places out west. Out west is all the undeveloped land being bought by families to build there homes. OPS simply wanted the money from these people. Some people like living downtown in places like the Old Market, or they can't afford living in the $300,000 homes of today. So those tend to be hispanics and African-Americans. However, there are some out west too. It is not the school district's fault that the city was already segregated.....the city caused that problem.

I feel safer knowing this bill is passed. At least something as finally been done to end this issue. I hope that no matter what happens, this bill remains untouched.