Racial Tension in Omaha, Nebraska - 21st Century

21st Century

Senator Ernie Chambers proposed a controversial school separation plan for Omaha in the Nebraska State Legislature in response to concerns by suburban districts outside Omaha boundaries. The state legislature was interested in seeking a way to use suburban districts to help integrate the city's schools. "The law, intended to resolve a boundary dispute between the Omaha schools and largely white suburban districts, created a learning community of area school districts that would operate with a common tax levy and required them to draw up an integration plan for metropolitan Omaha."

Chambers lobbied to create three districts in the city, with each drawn along geographic boundaries that loosely correlated to the racial segregation of the city: African Americans in North Omaha, Hispanic/Latinos in South Omaha, and Caucasians in West Omaha. Chambers defended his decision from the standpoint that much of the city had residential segregation and that his plan would provide African American parents in North Omaha with more control over their district. The State Legislature signed this plan into law in April, 2006, with the plan going into effect in 2008.

Within a month of the legislature's passing the law, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People brought a lawsuit, arguing that due to Omaha's racially segregated residential patterns, subdivided school districts will also be racially segregated, contrary to United States law. The case has also drawn national attention. Critics regard the plan as "state-sponsored segregation".

In February 2007, unknown assailants robbed, firebombed, and spray painted a racist epithet on the side of an East Omaha grocery store owned by an Ethiopian immigrant. That crime is unsolved.

In October 2007, the Omaha World-Herald noted recent census statistics showed that Omaha, the 43rd largest city in the United States, has the fifth highest poverty rate for African Americans among the 100 largest cities. More than one in three live below the poverty line. The city has plans for public-private development in North Omaha that are intended to revive the area. Investment in infrastructure, parks and street design has already begun.

Some groups have tried to manufacture political power out of immigration issues, but more people in the city and community have rallied in support of the Hispanic community, who comprise the most numerous recent immigrants. In 2007 a neo-Nazi group tried to organize a protest and had 65 participants outside the city's Mexican consulate. They were far outnumbered by the thousands in counter-protests, as well as those celebrating at events marking the diversity of the city.