Category: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
Paul Olson, President
Nebraskans for Peace
As you know, the anti-immigrant ballot measure in Fremont vote ended up passing despite our efforts by about 4,000 to 3,000. This is discouraging. But remember that the original petition to put this issue on the ballot received more than 3,000 signatures (over 4,000 if we include the signatures that Fremont authorities could not validate) and few in Fremont were speaking out against it at the beginning. Though we lost the election, progressive forces obviously gained some traction. The credit for what gains we made go to Kirsten Ostrom, Krista Kjelgaard and their local Fremont allies; to the Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest and its allies, to the churches which took a position, and to a lot of people like UNL Professor Miguel Carranza and civil rights lawyer S. A. Mora James who put in much hard work. We lost but not for lack of trying.
At the last NFP State Board meeting, the board of directors authorized us to join coalitions to oppose the State Senator Charlie Janssen, Arizona-type anti-immigrant legislation proposed for Nebraska. Appleseed is organizing such a coalition, and Nebraskans for Peace will be sending representatives to the July 8 meeting.
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
Civil rights activist and long-time NFP member Hugh Bullock died this past week after a recent health crisis. For over half a century, Hugh and his surviving wife Leola fearlessly championed the rights of African Americans in Nebraska, challenging discriminatory practices in housing, employment and opportunity wherever they found them. In February 2008, their close friend and activist colleague Lela Shanks chronicled some of the experiences Hugh had to daily contend with as a postal worker in 1950s Nebraska for the Nebraska Report. In tribute to Hugh’s contributions to justice and racial equality, we are posting the article in its entirety. For most readers, this is absolutely unknown history, and once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop.
Lela Shanks Interviews Hugh Bullock
The idea for this interview came about over lunch with Hugh and Leola Bullock and other friends. Hugh began telling about the discrimination he faced in 1953 in Lincoln as the first African American hired to work for the U. S. Postal Transportation Service. As I listened to him, I began choking up, remembering similar problems my late husband, Hughes, had faced as the first African American hired by the Denver Social Security Administration in 1956. My husband had to go to Baltimore for training, but because of legal segregation, he was not permitted to stay or eat in the downtown hotel where his fellow white trainees were housed. He stayed across town at the black YMCA. Since the Y had no cafeteria, he ate out of cans, got ptomaine poison, had to have his stomach pumped, and almost died. I decided to interview Hugh in honor of my Hughes and all the other black men and women who have endured racial discrimination in order to break down employment barriers in America. -- Lela Shanks
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
NFP Statement on Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in Nebraska
At a recent state soccer championship match, a group of students from the overwhelmingly white and affluent Lincoln East High School made dozens of homemade “green cards” which were then thrown in the air on the field after their team defeated the majority-Hispanic Omaha South team to win the title. The incident was reminiscent of the days when watermelons and black cats were thrown on the field to belittle and denigrate African American athletes. It underscores the highly charged atmosphere surrounding undocumented Hispanic immigration to this country, the anxiety among many regarding the growing presence of Latinos in the U.S., and the easy potential for these attitudes to turn mean-spirited and racist.
Nebraskans for Peace commends those students, parents, administrators and teachers from both Lincoln East and Omaha South who have sought to turn an ugly incident into a transformative teaching moment. The recent meeting in Omaha between students from both schools, as well as the creation of the Student Coalition Against Racism at Lincoln East, are important first steps. However, given the broader national context of rising anti-immigrant sentiment, we must all oppose the nativist impulse and those who seek to divide us along lines of difference.
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
Rev. Del Roper
Published on The Grand Island Independent
From the time we start to school we Americans are taught to stand and "pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America." That pledge ends with the affirmation "with liberty and justice for all" — a noble ideal, a key value for which we strive. That said, it occurs to me that we as a noble people face some critical work to assure liberty and justice for all.
This work has to do with a segment of American citizens who are denied this liberty and justice.
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
NFP
LB 1002, which appropriated $25,000 for “economic development, health care, and law enforcement needs” in the Whiteclay area, passed the Legislature with 47 of 49 possible votes the last week of the session. (Mark Christensen of Imperial voted against it; Tony Fulton of Lincoln, running for State Treasurer this year, was present but did not vote.) The bill also funded a grant administrator for the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs to leverage the state’s $25,000 with private dollars. The original bill called for $250,000, but this was reduced by the Judiciary Committee to $100,000 before advancing it, and was further reduced during floor debate.
The impact of LB 1002 itself is modest. Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services estimates a minimum annual expenditure of $600,000 to operate an alcohol treatment center. Nevertheless, the bill marks a significant milestone in the battle for Whiteclay. It generated over three hours of floor debate, with many senators expressing support while acknowledging that LB 1002 can only be viewed as a beginning.
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
