Racial Gap Persists

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This is a story I wrote in 1997 about the racial gap in the United States and in Omaha.

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I sometimes discuss this story in “Using Story Elements,” talking about how you can
personify statistics by finding a typical person, or, as in this case, using the statistics to
describe a mythical character.
Copyright 1997 Omaha World-Herald
Reprinted with permission
June 15, 1997, Sunday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
HEADLINE: From Birth to Death, Racial Gap Persists
By STEPHEN BUTTRY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Starting before birth, a black child faces longer odds against survival and
success than a white child.
Black women are more likely than white women to become pregnant without
marrying, to have abortions, to delay or forgo prenatal care. At birth, the
child faces a life expectancy that is seven years shorter than a white baby's.
The bleak outlook continues through life - in Omaha, throughout the
Midlands, across the United States. Especially if the child is a boy, he is more
likely than a white child to die as a baby, as an adolescent and as a young
adult. He is more likely to drop out of school, be arrested, go to prison,
contract AIDS, be murdered.
The black child, even if she is a girl, is less likely to finish high
school, college or graduate school, less apt to use computers, less likely to
have health insurance or to visit the doctor unless it's an emergency.
Even if the child joins the growing black middle class, success is
moderated. A black with a doctoral degree earns 15 percent less than a white
with the same credential.
Whatever progress has been made in fighting racial discrimination and in
increasing opportunities for blacks, life generally remains vastly different for
blacks than for whites.
People of differing ideologies disagree about the causes of the gap, which
are complex and varied. Much of the debate centers on how much racism is a cause
and how much it has become an excuse. This story does not address that debate,
but concentrates on showing how deep and wide and genuine the gap is, whatever
the reasons.
The gaps between black and white aren't just national trends, weighed down
by dismal figures from faraway cities. The differences are as clear in the
Midlands, with its low overall unemployment, poverty and crime rates, as they

are nationally. In virtually every case where national, state and local figures
are available, Nebraska, Iowa and Omaha reflect the national trends, varying
only in degree.
In some cases, the differences are sharper here. For instance, Nebraska's
rate of black births out of wedlock is higher than the national average. Three
out of four black babies born in Nebraska have unwed mothers, compared with one
in five white babies.
Fifty years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, 134 years
after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, 34 years after Martin
Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and 78 years after an innocent black man
was lynched in Omaha, statistics show beyond question that blacks, as a group,
continue to lead more difficult lives than whites.
To be sure, the gap has narrowed in some respects as conditions for blacks
have improved since the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s. For
instance, in 1970, more than half of the nation's black workers had not
graduated from high school, compared with one-third of whites. For both groups,
it is now less than one in five workers, with the percentage for whites only a
few points higher.
In other ways, blacks have made progress but the gap has widened as whites
made even greater progress. The median income after adjusting for inflation has
grown for black families since 1970 by a greater percentage than white income
has grown. But the income for white households has grown by more dollars,
pushing it further ahead of blacks.
In some ways, the disparities are growing as conditions decline. From 1970
to 1994, the percentage of children living with both parents fell much faster
for blacks than for whites.
It is important to note that in most comparisons, the differences are
proportional. For example, whites actually outnumber blacks in Nebraska's
prisons by nearly 900 inmates. But blacks account for 30 percent of the state's
prison population and only 4 percent of the state's total population.
The disparities exist in nearly every aspect of life - health, crime,
education, employment, income, family life, housing, leisure.
Families
If the family is the foundation of a society, black America's foundation has
been crumbling for decades.
Nebraska's most recent Vital Statistics Report, for 1995, shows the gap

repeatedly. The overall rate for out-of-wedlock births is 31/2 times higher
among blacks than whites. And it's not just the result of teen-age pregnancies.
In every age group except 25-29, more than half of black babies are born to
unwed mothers.
Among couples who do marry, black families show added stress. The same
report showed that divorces were a higher percentage of marriages among black or
mixed couples.
Black children, by huge margins, are less likely to live with two parents
and more likely to live with a mother who has never married.
Of course, many single parents rear children who are successful by any
standard. But studies show that children of single parents, on the average, face
a tougher struggle.
And the single black mother tends to have more children making demands on
her time, energy and budget. Though fewer black families are headed by married
couples, the average family is larger.
Employment
By virtually every measurement, whites fare better than blacks in the
workplace.
Unemployment for blacks in Omaha is more than triple the rate for whites.
The list of professions in which black representation is less than half the
percentage of blacks in the work force is a list of the nation's most
prestigious jobs: physicians, lawyers, architects, dentists, pilots, engineers.
Blacks are similarly scarce among the ranks of editors and reporters.
Black representation about equals the black share of the work force for
teachers, clergy, police and athletes.
The occupations where blacks are represented considerably beyond their
presence in the work force at large: social workers, correctional officers,
maids, janitors, servants, laborers, factory workers and hospital orderlies.
If computers are the future of the workplace, the future doesn't look bright
for blacks. Whites are one-third more likely to use computers on the job, at
home and at school.
Income

As middle-class whites see scattered blacks in their neighborhoods and
workplaces, see endless commercials featuring Shaquille O'Neal and Michael
Jordan and read about black business executives such as Omaha's Herman Cain,
it's easy to assume that prosperity is spreading among blacks.
It is, sort of.
Greater percentages of American blacks are making more than $50,000 a year,
adjusted for inflation, than were in 1970. And with the growth in black
population, those larger percentages translate into even bigger growth in the
actual number of blacks in the upper income brackets.
Look at the other end of the spectrum, though. From 1970 to 1994, the
percentage of blacks in the lowest income category, making less than $ 10,000 a
year adjusted for inflation, varied hardly at all. The growth at the upper end
reflects only a slight decline among blacks making $ 10,000 to $ 35,000.
At every level of advanced education - bachelor's degree, master's degree,
professional degree and doctorate - whites are paid at least 15 percent more.
Blacks with professional degrees earn 62 percent as much as whites.
Even among high school dropouts, whites are paid one-third more than blacks.
Every way you analyze income, blacks line up far below whites: weekly
earnings, family earnings, hourly wages, household income, poverty. And the gap
is growing.
In Omaha, median family income for whites was double that for blacks in the
1990 census.
Black families are more likely than whites to receive only three kinds of
income: welfare, disability checks and child support. Even there, blacks don't
win. White custodial parents are more likely to receive child support, and their
child support payments average $ 1,000 a year more than for blacks.
Though most poor people are white, poverty figures overwhelmingly show that
the burden falls heaviest on blacks. More than two of every five black children
live in poverty.
And poverty's grip is stronger on blacks. A national analysis showed that in
an average month in 1991-92, blacks were almost three times more likely to be
poor. But they were five times more likely to be poor for the full 24-month
period.
In virtually every welfare program, blacks' participation nationally is at
least triple the rate for whites. In Nebraska, the welfare gap is even wider.

Though blacks are only 10 percent of the population in Douglas and Sarpy
Counties, 43 percent of the food stamp recipients in the two counties are black.
Much of this nation's income is paid in the form of pensions, and blacks,
with their shorter life span, receive only a tiny slice of that pie.
Crime
In the case of murder, the black-white gap is so huge that the raw numbers
for blacks actually surpass those for whites. Among victims and suspects, blacks
outnumbered whites in the United States in 1995, though whites outnumber blacks
almost 7 to 1 in the general population.
At every age and gender group except women over age 85, the homicide rate is
higher than for whites. Blacks also are victimized at higher rates than whites
for other major crimes: rape, robbery, assault, theft, burglary, car theft.
Blacks are also more likely than whites to get arrested. Though blacks
account for less than 4 percent of Nebraska's population, they accounted for
more than 10 percent of the state's arrests for every major offense in 1994
except drunk driving.
Nationally, blacks outnumber whites in the nation's prisons and on parole.
The numbers in jails are about even. On probation, though, whites outnumber
blacks about 2 to 1.
So with all this violence committed by and against blacks, are they more
heavily armed than whites? No, according to a 1993 survey by the U.S. Bureau of
Justice Statistics. Nearly half of all white homes have a gun, while a quarter
of all black homes do.
Health
Nebraska Health Department figures show that the disparity starts in the
womb: Expectant white mothers have prenatal checkups more often than black
mothers and pregnant black women are more likely than white women to use alcohol
during pregnancy. (White women, though, are slightly more likely to smoke while
pregnant).
Black babies are more than twice as likely to be underweight at birth and to
die before their first birthday.
From age 15 to 24, 25 to 34 and 35 to 44, black males die at twice the rate
of white males.
The attrition is stark in old age. Nebraska whites outnumber blacks 20 to 1

in the teen-age years and 30 to 1 in the 40s, but 80 to 1 beyond age 85. The
difference in life expectancy between blacks and whites is as big as the
difference between men and women.
Blacks are more likely to have no health insurance than whites and more
likely to have only the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. They are
less likely to visit a dentist or a doctor's office, more likely to visit an
emergency room, less likely to get a flu shot. Blacks are less likely to eat
breakfast, more apt to be overweight, more subject to lead poisoning, less
likely to get childhood immunizations on time.
Smoking rates differ little by race.
Despite the huge population disparity, the total numbers of AIDS cases
reported in 1995 were about the same for blacks and whites.
Education
Education has been the front line of the struggle for equality, from the
1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared school segregation
unconstitutional through the battles to integrate Southern schools through
court-ordered busing in Omaha and other northern school districts as well.
Schools and universities are no longer entirely separate, but educational
achievement is nowhere near equal. Black students in the Omaha School District
scored lower on the California Achievement Tests than white students in all
three academic areas tested at all five grade levels taking the test from 1994
to 1996.
The overall gap between black and white at Omaha schools was at least 29
percentile ranks at every grade level, a wider chasm than is seen nationally.
The gap is exaggerated by the larger percentage of black children who come
from poor families. Regardless of race, children from poor families, as a group,
have lower scores. But income apparently doesn't account for all of the racial
gap. In the Omaha tests, black students whose families didn't qualify for
subsidized lunches didn't test as well as whites whose family incomes were low
enough to receive free or discount lunches.
Other educational figures show the same disparity. At every level of higher
education, blacks receive a disproportionately small share of the degrees.
American blacks who do complete college take, on average, a year longer than
whites. Less than 6 percent of college instructors and professors are black.
Only one in 34 University of Nebraska students is black.
Locally and nationally, blacks are more likely to drop out of high school.

One note of equality that does emerge from the educational statistics:
Blacks are enrolled in preschool at about the same rate as whites, even a little
higher.
Housing
By and large, blacks and whites live in communities or neighborhoods with
people of their own race.
Only eight Nebraska counties are home to more than 100 blacks and 62
counties have fewer than 10. Douglas and Sarpy Counties have one-third of the
state's population, but 88 percent of the black population.
Even within Omaha, the state's most integrated community, the races are
clustered. City Council District 2, in north Omaha, has 66 percent black
population, while the rest of the city's black population is 4 percent.
Elementary school attendance areas in the Omaha School District further
illustrate the divide. A quarter of the children are black. Yet in most of the
neighborhoods, more than 60 percent or less than 6 percent of the children are
black.
The difference is strong not just in where the races live but in their
circumstances. Though whites outnumber blacks 7 to 1 in Omaha, nearly
three-quarters of the residents of the city's subsidized housing are black.
Two out of three white families in Nebraska and Iowa own their homes, while
three out of five blacks rent. Whether renting or buying, Nebraska blacks have
older and smaller and less valuable homes, though on average a black household
has more people.
Lifestyle
Even in the activities that bring fun and flair to life, or the inventions
that provide convenience and communication, the advantage for whites is strong.
Omaha blacks are more than four times as likely not to have telephones and
three times as likely not to have a vehicle.
National surveys show that whites are more likely to watch movies, attend
sporting events, visit amusement parks, listen to live classical music, go to
the opera or the ballet, watch a play, stroll through an art museum or visit a
historic park. Blacks are more likely to attend a jazz performance or watch
television (though less likely to have cable TV).

Whites also are more likely to participate in a variety of cultural and
recreational activities: reading literature or a newspaper, exercising, camping,
hiking, canoeing, home improvement, gardening, playing classical music, pottery
and other crafts, needlework, painting, creative writing, buying art and surfing
the Internet. Blacks and whites are equally likely to participate in modern
dancing.
Whites even partake more in an activity that racial stereotypes associate
with blacks: playing sports.
Copyright 1997 Omaha World-Herald
Reprinted with permission
June 15, 1997, Sunday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14A
HEADLINE: Hispanic Predicament Similar
By STEPHEN BUTTRY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Hispanic Americans face disadvantages similar to those faced by blacks.
Statistics for Hispanics can be more difficult to obtain or assess. They are
reported different ways by different agencies - sometimes as a separate group
and sometimes overlapping with the racial groups into which Hispanics can fall.
In addition, Hispanics are undercounted in some surveys, because of language
differences or lack of telephones and because those who are in the country
illegally may try to avoid census officials.
Generally, the figures show a large gap in circumstances between whites and
Hispanics. In the areas examined for this report, the gap was usually similar to
or smaller than the gap between blacks and whites.
In Douglas County, the teen-age birth rate for blacks was higher than the
rate for Hispanic girls in the most recent figures available, for 1993. However,
the rate for Hispanics was climbing, closing the gap between the two groups.
In a few cases, the gap was wider for Hispanics. For instance, blacks and
Hispanics are employed as maids and servants at disproportionately high rates,
but the rate for Hispanics is higher.
In Nebraska, according to 1994 Census Bureau estimates, there are fewer
Hispanics than blacks, but the Hispanics are more evenly distributed, with 31
counties having more than 100.
Douglas County had the most of both minority groups, with an estimated
48,945 black residents and 15,244 Hispanics. Blacks were 13 percent of the

county population and Hispanics 4 percent. Statewide, blacks were 4 percent of
the population and Hispanics 3 percent.
Many reports do not provide separate figures for Asian-Americans or American
Indians. Where numbers were available, they showed that Asian-Americans often
fare as well as or even better than whites and that Indians face odds as
discouraging as blacks, or more so.
For example, blacks and Indians were the only groups with a majority of 1995
births in Nebraska occurring out of wedlock. People of Asian origin were 3
percent of the nation's population in 1993, but earned 7 percent of the
professional degrees and held 5 percent of college faculty positions.
Nebraska's population is 1 percent each American Indian and Asian.
Copyright 1997 Omaha World-Herald
Reprinted with permission
June 15, 1997, Sunday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14A
HEADLINE: Search for Solutions
By STEPHEN BUTTRY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Honesty is needed to improve race relations, community leaders agree. But
they differ over what painful truths must be faced.
We must admit, says Mayor Daub, that policy disagreements aren't necessarily
racial.
We must admit, says Liz Karnes, that deep racial wounds persist and demand
the community's attention.
Daub and Dr. Karnes were among more than 20 people from various segments of
Omaha and other Midlands communities who were asked about possible ways to
improve race relations and close gaps between racial and ethnic groups at the
community level and the personal level.
Time and again, in different ways, the people of varying viewpoints and
backgrounds stressed the need for honesty.
"There are too many people who make their living out of saying there is a
racial divide in America," Daub said. "We really have to quit talking about 'we
have a race problem.' "
Dr. Karnes, who supported Daub in last month's mayoral election, took a
different view. "If people think that there isn't a racial divide," she said,

"they have their heads in the sand."
Daub said discussions of race and fear of discussing race keep the community
from addressing "deeper problems of joblessness, homelessness, economic
disadvantagement."
Racism has not been eliminated, and should not be tolerated, but it is not
the cause of every problem facing people of minority groups, Daub said.
He particularly faulted Omaha Together One Community, a group of churches
that addresses local issues.
"Everything that happens from an OTOC point of view is played with a race
card," Daub said, vehemently rejecting a suggestion for a community "summit" on
race made by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of Temple Israel, one of the OTOC congregations.
Here and on the facing page are observations of Azriel, Dr. Karnes and
others who were interviewed:
Summit Needed
Aryeh Azriel
Omaha needs a summit of community leaders publicly addressing racial
concerns, just as Omaha 2000 has pursued educational goals, said Rabbi Azriel,
who started the Black-Jewish Dialogue Group.
"There is so much brain and wealth and power in this town," Azriel said.
"This is definitely one thing we can try to conquer."
He said the talks should also address what he sees as a rift in the
community between east and west. "This imaginary Berlin wall in 72nd Street is
absolutely atrocious," the rabbi said.
Race relations are the community's most pressing problem, Azriel said. "We
need a declaration of war on racism by all the organizations in town that are
dealing with racial issues."
Listen to Voters
Liz Karnes
Dr. Karnes, a member of the District 66 school board and a Midlands Region
board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, said Daub needs
to "listen to messages that were sent" in the mayoral election, when voters
split almost evenly between him and Brenda Council.

Even before the campaign, in which several racial issues were raised, Dr.
Karnes said she heard expressions of concern from community and business leaders
that race relations in the community were deteriorating. Daub and Ms. Council
need to lead a continuing public discussion of the differing views in the
community, Dr. Karnes said.
"Her people and his people need to come together or the next four years are
going to be very contentious," Dr. Karnes said.
She said white people who condemn overt racism and casually know a few
minority people in their neighborhoods are too easily satisfied that they have
met their responsibility.
"You must make a conscious effort to reach beyond that," Dr. Karnes said.
"Whatever sphere of influence you're involved with, you have to reach out."
She praised mentoring programs that link successful adults with
disadvantaged youths as particularly important. "It's a small amount of time
with great dividends."
Families, Too
Theresa Barron-McKeagney
Mentoring programs are needed for families as well, said Theresa
Barron-McKeagney of Council Bluffs, assistant professor of social work at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Dr. Barron-McKeagney is running a program sponsored by UNO, the YWCA and the
Chicano Awareness Center to provide mentors for families that need assistance in
such areas as parenting skills.
"You need to be there to provide role modeling for the family," she said.
"If we don't strengthen the families and try to get them the support they need,
they're going to fall through the cracks."
Speak Out
Mrs. Aherns
Difficult though it may be to speak out, Billi Aherns said, people who are
offended by racism must not tolerate it.
"If you find racism offensive, then don't tolerate people around you being
offensive," she said. "That gets difficult to do when it's family and friends."

Mrs. Aherns, president of the Council Bluffs school board, sees schools as
critical to improved racial relations. "Through education, hopefully you can
teach people about other cultures so they are more accepting."
Respect Diversity
Dan Offenburger
Children who grow up in rural towns with little ethnic diversity need strong
direction from their parents, churches and schools to learn appreciation for the
diversity in the world at large, said Dan Offenburger, who returned in middle
age to his hometown of Shenandoah, Iowa.
Offenburger confesses that he was racially insensitive enough as a youth to
ride around Des Moines once with some Shenandoah friends, yelling racial slurs
out the window.
But his mother, Anna, taught enough fundamental human respect that his
brother, Tom, became press secretary to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and
later to Andrew Young, who came to Shenandoah to deliver the eulogy for Tom
Offenburger's funeral in 1986.
Dan Offenburger also taught his children racial sensitivity. His daughter,
Marti, married Kenny Walker, a black former Husker football star, and
Offenburger talks proudly of his biracial grandchildren.
Wherever people acquire their prejudices, Offenburger said, they must
confront them to overcome them. "Sometimes you've got to make people
uncomfortable," he said.
Fair Chance
Glenn Freeman
Glenn Freeman, assistant state chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party,
says the nation should give blacks nothing more or less than a fair chance.
"What you should say is we will have no discrimination, no quotas, no
preferential treatment. We will provide Glenn Freeman with an opportunity."
Freeman, who grew up attending segregated schools in Washington, D.C., said
programs such as school busing, welfare and affirmative action are based on the
premise that blacks are inferior and can't succeed without help.
When Jackie Robinson broke into the major leagues 50 years ago, Freeman

said, he didn't get any special breaks, like a fourth strike or an extra base
every time he hit a single.
"That's just how ludicrous it is today," Freeman said. "They brought Jackie
Robinson up to the major leagues because it was morally wrong to deny him that
opportunity. Once they brought him up, Jackie Robinson had to compete."
Acknowledge Race
Miss Washington
Harriette Washington, a federal probation officer in Omaha, cited Cornel
West's book "Race Matters," and said it is important not to pretend that race
isn't a factor in everyday decisions and events.
"As a starting point, we need to all admit race matters," Miss Washington
said. "We're in a stage of denial."
Community leaders, she said, set an important example and need to be active
and visible in all parts of the community. "If they are only seen in certain
parts of the community, people will continue to isolate themselves."
Improvement in racial relations "has to start from the heart," said Miss
Washington, a longtime volunteer at Flanagan High School, Special Olympics and
other youth activities. "An individual citizen has to say, 'I'm going to do this
and I'm not going to get anything back from it.' There's no glory in it."
Minority Business
Jose Ramirez
Minority communities help themselves economically and culturally by
nurturing businesses such as the Mexican- American enterprises that have opened
in south Omaha in recent years, said Jose Ramirez, a longtime leader in the
Hispanic community.
"Some of these stores are providing jobs not only for themselves but for
others," said Ramirez. "They also provide merchandise that was not available
before that is important in maintaining our culture."
Larger businesses can help, too. Ramirez, a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Church, said area churches are meeting with south Omaha meat packers to
urge better pay and benefits for the immigrants who work in the plants.
"They can make a profit and still pay decent wages," Ramirez said.

Arts Are Important
Ms. Lim
Music and art can overcome ethnic barriers, appealing to universal
appreciation of beauty, said Margaret Lim, an Omaha musician whose parents were
born in Korea.
After a recent auto accident, Ms. Lim was hurt by ethnic epithets used by a
motorist who mistakenly thought the wreck was her fault. The reminder of how
emotional racial barriers can be gave her added appreciation for her circle of
friends in the arts community, where "I'm surrounded by people who welcome
diversity."
Ms. Lim is music series coordinator for Joslyn Art Museum and a cellist with
the Omaha Symphony. At auditions, she noted, musicians perform behind a screen.
"They don't know if you're black, white, Asian, short, tall. All that matters is
the music."
Not Inherent
Marilyn Browder
Marilyn Browder teaches second grade at Franklin Magnet Center. Children
from mostly white or mostly black neighborhoods are bused to the school for
their first extended exposure to children of other races.
At that age, Mrs. Browder said, race doesn't matter.
"Prejudice is something that is taught and it's learned," she said. "In
second grade, if they don't like you, they don't like you for a reason."
Quality academic programs challenge children to excel despite difficult
socio-economic circumstances, Mrs. Browder said. The magnet school provides
extensive computer experience and Japanese language instruction. Each child
writes and publishes a book.
"Hopefully," she said, "this is a springboard for them as they get older."
Job Skills
Jim Scholz
Education for children in poverty must go beyond academic fundamentals and
include employment skills that help them overcome cultural barriers, said the
Rev. Jim Scholz, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Sacred Heart School has been successful preparing inner-city children for
the workplace, he said, by teaching about the value of eye contact and a firm
handshake, which create an impression in the first few seconds a person meets a
prospective employer.
Cultural Events
Rudi Mitchell
Festivals that allow people to experience different cultures help battle
misconceptions, said Rudi Mitchell, a psychologist in Macy, Neb., and former
chairman of the Omaha Tribe.
He mentioned the Lewis and Clark festival in Onawa, Iowa, and pow wows on
Indian reservations as events that "help promote better relationships by
educating people about other cultures."
Such personal contacts, he said, help break down "predetermined opinions
about minority groups."
Views Differ
Ty Schenzel
Whites and blacks view race relations differently, the Rev. Ty Schenzel
said, because their experiences have been so fundamentally different, dating
back to slavery.
"For whites, race is very rarely an issue at all unless it affects them,"
said Schenzel, an urban minister at Trinity Church Interdenominational. "For
blacks, it's an issue every day. It tucks them into bed at night and it wakes
them up in the morning."
Whites who consider themselves above racism should ask themselves, he said,
whether they would date someone of another race or how they would feel if one of
their children wanted to date or marry someone of another race.
"When you see someone who's black," Schenzel asked, "do you have fear? Do
you grab your purse? Do you lock your doors?"
Stop Hypocrisy
Mrs. Romero
If people practiced the religious faith they profess, said Marisela Romero,

children would grow up seeing examples of tolerant behavior and racism would
vanish.
"Until we stop the hypocrisy - being one thing on Sunday morning and
something else on Sunday afternoon - we're not going to be able to stop
bigotry," said Mrs. Romero, who runs Haven House, a temporary shelter for
workers who move to Lexington, Neb.
"It starts with you and it starts right now," she said, "or it's never going
to end."
Reject Racism
Felands Marion
Felands Marion of Papillion, an Omaha police homicide detective, takes a
no-nonsense approach to racial snubs.
"I do not accept racism, period," said Marion, a black whose mother was half
American Indian and whose wife is white. "It's not tolerated."
He has left places where he has been made to feel uncomfortable by offensive
jokes or remarks. Marion, who is a Scout leader and a basketball and football
coach, corrects other adults who make inappropriate racial remarks around young
people.
"I say, 'We have kids here. We need to set an example.' "
It's important, he said, to treat youths the same, regardless of race or
background. "In Scouting, we have Scouts. In football, we have football players.
In basketball we have basketball players," Marion said. "We're all one team."
Take Responsibility
Terry Herring
Each person must bear responsibility for his or her own success or failure,
without using racism as a crutch, said Terry Herring of Bellevue, a retired Air
Force personnel officer and now a leadership and management training consultant.
"We've got to get back to the concept of personal responsibility for
personal results," Herring said. "It's sad, but we have people who are making a
living on racism."
He called for greater emphasis on American culture, rather than on the
cultures from which people came to the country. "The diversity issue has swung

too far and now we're attacking our own national culture that isn't so bad,"
Herring said.
Perspectives
Frank Hayes
Blacks and whites must realize, Frank Hayes said, how differently they see
things that might happen every day.
For instance, he said, a black person who is treated rudely by a store clerk
may infer a racial motive behind the person's attitude. A white person facing
the same treatment, Hayes said, thinks the clerk is a jerk.
In truth, Hayes said, racism probably is not as prevalent as the black
person suspects but more common than the white person will admit.
Hayes, an Omaha accountant and founder and president of 100 Black Men of
Omaha, said actions of individual blacks affect others of their race more than
actions of individual whites.
"Whatever we do," Hayes said, "the person coming behind us is either going
to be helped by it or hurt by it."
Human Race
Roy Smith
Car dealer Roy Smith finds wisdom in the words of an old song: "Accentuate
the positive, eliminate the negative."
The work of eliminating negative attitudes and views, he said, must be
shared by all.
"The majority has to understand that we're really just one race - the human
race," Smith said. "To hold something against someone because of skin color is a
terrible wrong and it's detrimental to our society."
Those in the minority, he said, need to quit thinking of themselves as
minorities. "They have to think, 'I have the same opportunity of achieving my
goals as everyone else.' Don't let small barriers become permanent roadblocks.
Admitting defeat is the permanent roadblock."
Candid Talks
Dr. Peck

Candor, sometimes painful candor, is essential for bridging racial
differences, said Magda Peck, a Jew who feels her ethnic difference more acutely
in Omaha than she did while growing up in Philadelphia or living as an adult in
Boston.
"Until you have dialogue, a full and open exchange of the heart between
people who are fundamentally different, you won't discover how fundamentally the
same you are," said Dr. Peck, a child health specialist at the University of
Nebraska Medical Center and a member of the Black-Jewish Dialogue Group.
"There are these eggshells we walk around on, this discomfort, this fear, so
we talk around it," she said. "The way to bridge the gap starts with individuals
talking from the heart."
GRAPHIC: Mugs/19

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