2008 Woodie Awards
Divide to Strengthen, or to Conquer?
Alexandra Ferrara
Issue date: 4/27/06 Section: Opinions
Imagine yourself as a member of a minority community: the target of racial and ethnic offenses, an object of reform, historically an outcast. Now think if you could create a community in which you, as a minority, could control your future. Free from the chains of a majority society, you have the power to construct your children's future, your community's destiny, your own set of rules.
Ernie Chambers, an African-American senator from Omaha, Nebraska, is looking to do precisely this.
He is the lead force behind a measure passed by the Nebraska legislature on Thursday that signed into law a provision for dividing the Omaha public schools into three racially identifiable districts: one largely black, one white and one mostly Hispanic.
Starting integration programs via mandatory busing in the late 1970s, Nebraska has long been an anti-segregation state. The passing of this recent legislation has Omaha in a rage. Opponents have stated that the days of segregation are long over and they should never again be apart of Omaha's history. Gary Orfield, director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, mentions that "these efforts to resegregate schools by race keep popping up in various parts of the country," and many of them cross constitutionally-permissible lines. Nebraska's attorney general, Jon Bruning, stated in a letter to the Nebraska state senator that he believed the law could violate the federal Constitution's equal protection clause. He warned Nebraska of legal challenges to come.
Those in favor of the legislation believe that too many school districts stratify Omaha's community and create inequity. The new legislation would create a fairer tax base and foster integration through magnet programs to be set up in largely white schools, which would attract minority students. The bill contained various clauses creating a "learning community" which would include 11 school districts in the Omaha area operating with a standard tax levy while still keeping the same current borders. It requires districts to cooperate with each other in order to foster voluntary integration. However, the legislation changed radically with a two-page amendment by Senator Chambers that created racially identifiable districts. Senator Chambers' motives were explained by his wish for black educators to control schools in black areas. Nebraska's 49-member, nonpartisan legislature confirmed the measure by a vote of 31 to 16 with Senator Chambers's support.
Ernie Chambers, an African-American senator from Omaha, Nebraska, is looking to do precisely this.
He is the lead force behind a measure passed by the Nebraska legislature on Thursday that signed into law a provision for dividing the Omaha public schools into three racially identifiable districts: one largely black, one white and one mostly Hispanic.
Starting integration programs via mandatory busing in the late 1970s, Nebraska has long been an anti-segregation state. The passing of this recent legislation has Omaha in a rage. Opponents have stated that the days of segregation are long over and they should never again be apart of Omaha's history. Gary Orfield, director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, mentions that "these efforts to resegregate schools by race keep popping up in various parts of the country," and many of them cross constitutionally-permissible lines. Nebraska's attorney general, Jon Bruning, stated in a letter to the Nebraska state senator that he believed the law could violate the federal Constitution's equal protection clause. He warned Nebraska of legal challenges to come.
Those in favor of the legislation believe that too many school districts stratify Omaha's community and create inequity. The new legislation would create a fairer tax base and foster integration through magnet programs to be set up in largely white schools, which would attract minority students. The bill contained various clauses creating a "learning community" which would include 11 school districts in the Omaha area operating with a standard tax levy while still keeping the same current borders. It requires districts to cooperate with each other in order to foster voluntary integration. However, the legislation changed radically with a two-page amendment by Senator Chambers that created racially identifiable districts. Senator Chambers' motives were explained by his wish for black educators to control schools in black areas. Nebraska's 49-member, nonpartisan legislature confirmed the measure by a vote of 31 to 16 with Senator Chambers's support.
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