LeClara Gilreath has an MBA and an MA. She attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a native of Omaha. She is one of the few African American historians who deal with race issues. As we review the book The Roots of Justice: A History of Race and Racism in Nebraska, we come to learn valuable parts of history that havebeen left out of the History of Blacks in Nebraska. The History departments at post-secondary institutions have painted a jade history of our contribution to this state and its importance to move beyond the hero worship of the same old trivial data and more into social justice and significant accomplishment to carve out our existence in this racist and apartheid state. The Nebraska Historical Society has many articles that are beyond the reach of folks who don’t know how to avoid stereotypical recitation. LeClara will share her interest and what it takes to conduct research on Black History in a state with a hostile academic climate.
Mogien “Mo” Boyd is the new Executive Director of the African American Commission. He is a native Nebraskan and has a degree in history from UNL and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Bellevue University. This Commission was created to help advance public policy for African Americans in Nebraska. Over the years, there have been many challenges dealing with legislative issues, and for the most part,
Senator Chambers was that connection to keep our interests front and center. Mo is tasked with helping to implement the new strategic plan, which guides the work of the Commission and African Americans in these trying times. They provide a state legislative update to help more folks advance our communities in Nebraska. We will explore how others, individuals, nonprofits, and people of goodwill can help African Americans statewide to advance tangible outcomes and meaningful tasks that will bothincrease state pride and offer transformation for the quality of life for African Americans in Nebraska.
Dori Bush is a community advocate and once lived in Grand Island, NE, for many years.
Dori is now a resident of Lincoln, NE. She experienced the loss of her husband, Dave,
on February 9, 2014. I met her when I was facilitating Omaha Table Talk in Grand
Island. Dori was a member of the board of directors of the YWCA, whose mission was to
address racism and promote diversity. She was engaged and helped with various social
issues in Grand Island during that period.
In 2022 September 6, after my wife died after 43 years of marriage, Dori sent me a
condolence letter and a small book of readings titled Healing After Loss. Daily
meditation for working through grief. It was most helpful and helped with the grieving
process. After a few conversations over the years, Dori shared that she has purchased
over 300 copies and gives them to individuals who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
We will talk about the grief process, then move on to how to stay involved in advocacy
and social justice work after retirement. Some of those advocacy-related issues include
immigration and the importance of public policy advocacy in Nebraska.
Racism and anti-immigration and fascist nature of ICE in the United States.
Ben Salazar, a long-time community advocate, talks about his experience of serving in the U.S. Military and the challenges of growing up in apartheid Scottsbuff, NE, where there was a class system that routinely discriminated against Chicanos. Moreover, Ben points out the incompetence of the city council member, who has not busted a grape for the community but has proposed silly ordinances about cars on residents' lawns. Ben also points out the incompetence of the Omaha Police Chief, who should have been fired for causing the city to lose nearly a million dollars. The Chief defended sexual harassment on his watch and was caught lying to the jury, which caused the City of Omaha to lose the case.
Nevertheless, as with many of the so-called fake leaders in the Black community. And the Brown community can't figure out how to challenge racism because many are on the payroll and sleeping with the enemy. This interview could not be used in postsecondary institutions in Nebraska because it would cause the current semi-educated collaborators to lose their minds. Oh, maybe what is left of their minds.
Iranian cultural issues and challenges in the current xenopobia war.
Shadi Nadri is a professional who spoke about being Iranian, living with multicultural identities, and the challenges of fitting in. Shadi recently moved to Omaha and sees some of the similar issues that we must address. She understands what it means to be an outsider and someone who can speak about living in segregated cities, such as Tulsa, OK. As cited, many of the residents are ignorant of the race riots and murders of more than 300 African Americans in Tulsa, OK. Such acts of genocide are often ignored or covered up by local, state, and federal governments, regardless of evidence that demonstrates the facts. Shadi also shared a poem that she wrote for the occasion.
Zionism in Gaza: The oppression by the fascist government of Israel against the Palestinians.
Zane Zents and Zaeem Hag talk about their respective organizations to get Nebraskans to fight against the murders of innocent people. This program outlines why others should not get involved in the war machine supported by the University of Nebraska system. Others must not serve in the military of destruction, and stop the racism and brainwashing that controls too many feeble minds. The modern-day Holocaust is being practiced by Israel in conjunction with the United States. We also have a clown or sick personality in the white house using the power of government, by supporting the murder of children when they are in schools under the guise of peace. There are too many mad men who lost their sense of. humility and are drinking the Jim Jones Kool-Aid that happened in Guyana in 1977.
The Future is History: Masha Gessen's book discuss by two MORE board members
This discussion is about the book's overview of what has happened under Vladimir Putin's authoritarianism in Russia, its links to history, and the struggle for democracy, as in the United States. The characters could be updated to reflect current conditions in Omaha and across Nebraska for People of Color. The educational system is controlled by corrupt folks who only want more funds for their pet projects. Racism and Classism are embedded in the outcome for students. We see many people who experience poverty in both countries, despite billions of dollars spent on control of the population and war. The lack of health care for many in Nebraska is similar to problems in Russia. One of them is the oppression of queer and alphabet people and their brutal harassment by law enforcement and religious zealots, as in this country. The alt-right, ultra -white that primarily work in law enforcement, ICE, and many of the educational system. rise to keep its respective population in check by using the cult of the personality of the leaders who are as dumb as a gnat. The data demonstrate that the book depicts The Future is History. As an African proverb would say, the past, the present, and the future are all connected. We sometimes cannot see the lines
I Cut Off Every Person in My Life
Murder’s Mask
Patriarchy, Possession and the Pattern. Behind the Killing of Botsawana Women
How Botswana’s Youth Lost The Path To Independence
The Battle Over Marriage and The Future of Botswana Family
Omaha Police Department over spending and excessive arrests for certain communities of Color.
Riley Wilson, an attorney, was arrested by the Omaha Police Department for being an observer during the George. Floyd protests in. 2020. He is also a lawyer who has worked with the ACLU and understands why we need more community engagement and community policing, rather than the dog-and-pony show where they have planted questions, Bobbhead's responses, and most of all, the inability to offer good answers to the real questions or return for tax dollars. Omaha is almost 40 percent people of color, and when we look at many in law enforcement, including judges, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals, the racist sheriff department there is no semblance of equity in this apartheid city of Omaha, Nebraska. This robust exchange seeks to raise the intellectual level of the Omaha Police to stop being a Gestapo and using ICE surrogates to harass its citizens.
Sexual offenses in Nebraska: What can be done for restorative justice?
Jeanie Shoemaker Mezger, an advocate for prison reform in Nebraska, talks about the dysfunctional laws, lack of proper information dealing with the sexual registry laws, and poor engagement of community members. Jeanie also works with the Nebraska Criminal Justice Review, a publication that allows various residents to share their perspectives on ideas and issues related to the dysfunctional criminal justice system. The School to Prison pipeline is part of the industrial prison complex that we are attempting to deconstruct antiquated practices to help folks who have served their time not be stagnated at the bottom of the ladder, because of draconian laws.
Book & Article Reviews for Black Nebraskans during Black History Month
The Nebraska Prison System: The Prison Industrial Complex and its lack of Reforms: Willis Sanders
Willis Sanders, a long-term resident of the Nebraska Industrial Complex, discusses his role in the school-to-prison pipeline, which creates negative opportunities for reform. Although a lot of folks make bank off the criminal justice system, the police department, the public pretenders, and most of all the County Attorney, with its racist mentality, create a no-win situation for many inmates of color. There is a hole that inmates are put in for no apparent reason, and there is little to no advocacy by the state, since they are part of the money-making scheme. It is apparent they hate African American males by how many are pushed and maintained in that system. Meanwhile, we are less safe when they return because the money-grubbing entities involve others in how to avoid the high level of recidivism in Nebraska. African American males make up less than 5 percent of the population, yet 28 percent of the inmates in the Department of Prisons. What can we do about it?
The White Man’s Burden is Heavy on The African Woman
Why Blackness is Hated
Botswana Wildlife Poaching Crisis and Social Justice
Racism Resistance
The Robert M. Spire Founders Service Award serves as the ACLU of Nebraska’s lifetime achievement award.
This year, we are proud to be honoring A’Jamal-Rashad Byndon, for decades of service, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to equity and justice in Nebraska. Born in Hastings and raised in a family of 14, A'Jamal is a lifelong advocate for People of Color and low-income families. He is one of the founding members of Omaha Table Talk, an organization that, at its height, brought over 600 residents in Metro Omaha together for dinners at various homes and community sites. He has taught multicultural and Black Studies classes at the University of Nebraska and Metro Community College, started the first diversity course at Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha, and even developed the first academic poverty class at the UNO Honor program and taught it three times before it was discontinued. He was also one of the first African Americans to serve on the board of the Latino Center of the Midlands, then known as the Chicano Awareness Center, over 30 years ago. He is currently serving as the chairman of the Board of the Movement in Omaha for Racial Equity, and continues to provide staunch advocacy for system accountability, transparency and equitable use of resources, especially through his work to ensure access to legal services in under-resourced communities in North and South Omaha, as well as across the state to ultimately end Nebraska’s “legal deserts”
A’Jamal served two years in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Botswana after graduating from UNL, was the Public Policy Senior Director at Catholic Charities for 25 years, and currently has 4 adult children with college degrees!
The ACLU of Nebraska is happy to honor A’Jamal’s lifetime of service with this award!
Selalelo Mmankgodi Women’s Grafted Fruit Tree Project
MORE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
We are working on a report on the effectiveness of these civil rights organizations, such as the city’s Omaha Human Rights and Relations Department, in addressing their mission. It’s come to our attention that they have little to no empirical data on the success of addressing racism, and historical discrimination and, most of all, engaging communities of Color with the transformation of the problems into reasonable solutions. When a public fund organization does work have little or any social capital with oppressed African Americans and other People of Color, it is time to ask for change. What good are third-string quarterbacks who can’t play in the Superbowl of anti-racism? Can we point to one success story and whom they helped in the valley of the struggle that can offer testimonials to outcomes?
Got any questions regarding anti-racism, race equity, or community advocacy but have never seemed to be able to get any answers? Or incidents handled by Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission , Nebraska Urban League, or any government funded organizations. -
Text or Email A’Jamal at 402-212-7083 or email moreinfo@moreomaha.org
Mail + Donations via Check
For all mail, or donations via check please mail to:
2016 Fowler Ave
Omaha, NE 68110
402-212-7083
EIN: 27-0666026
