Nebraska Lawmaker Chides NAACP for Filing Lawsuit Impulsively
by Jim Brown
May 23, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Nebraska lawmaker says the NAACP "compromised its professional principles and integrity" by filing a lawsuit challenging a new state law that's designed to reform failing Omaha public schools by giving them local control.The law divides the largest school district in Nebraska into three smaller districts of roughly 15,000 students each. But the lawsuit by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) claims the plan designed by Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha "intentionally furthers racial segregation" and is causing immediate harm -- despite the fact the district will not be divided until 2008.
Chambers, the only black lawmaker in the Nebraska Legislature, says he intentionally provoked the NAACP to file the lawsuit well before the law even takes effect. "They filed a stupid lawsuit too soon because they took the bait," he says, "and I think they're going to be greatly embarrassed before this is all over."
Chambers says the lawsuit filed in federal court even contains spelling errors. "Without even reading my log, without having the decency or professional courtesy to discuss it with me, they put themselves in a foolish, untenable position from which they don't know how to escape," explains the lawmaker. "So they signed onto a lawsuit which was so poorly crafted that it's a mockery throughout the city."
According to the state senator, the NAACP -- which he says is attempting to move to the middle of the road on social issues -- hastily responded to a newspaper article that reported billionaire Warren Buffet and others in corporate America opposed the law.
"[They're] trying to reach out to white corporate America for large corporate contributions because they are losing membership, not reaching the grassroots, because of the kind of thing they are doing in this lawsuit," he says. "So I think [when] they read this New York Times article, they said, 'These rich men are opposed to it,' the smell of money took over, and they said, 'If we jump into this on the side of these rich men, it will help what we're trying to do.'"
Senator Chambers says schools in Omaha have been segregated since 1999, so he is simply trying to reverse the harm that has been caused.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
