document resume ed 378 028 rc 019 945 author jenkins ... · document resume ed 378 028 rc 019 945...
TRANSCRIPT
DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 378 028 RC 019 945
AUTHOR Jenkins, Melvin L.
TITLE Race Relations in Western Nebraska.INSTITUTION Nebraska State Advisory Committee to the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights.
SPONS AGENCY Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C.
PUB DATE Dec 94NOTE 56p.; One appendix contains several pages of broken
type.
PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS American Indians; Civil Rights; *Community Problems;
Dropouts; Elementary Secondary Education; *EthnicDiscrimination; Higher Education; Hispanic Americans;Housing Discrimination; Migrants; *Minority Groups;*Multicultural Education; Police CommunityRelationship; Racial Bias; *Racial Relations
IDENTIFIERS Native Americans; *Nebraska (West); *RacialHarassment
ABSTRACTThis report is derived from a community forum held in
Scottsbluff (Nebraska) on April 28-29, 1993, by the Nebraska AdvisoryCommittee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Views onrace relations in selected areas of western Nebraska were expressed
by concerned citizens; community leaders; government officials(federal, state, and local); educators; law enforcement officials;and persons from the business community. They reported that stepswere being taken to improve race relations in western Nebraska, but
that these were insufficient. Main sections of the report address thefollowing: (1) background information on the area and its population,
minority groups, and poverty; (2) race relations in general,especially pertaining to Hispanics and Native Americans; (3) reported
harassment and racism in the public schools, minority dropout rates,lack of minority group teachers, teacher insensitivity, multiculturaland outreach activities, and minority student recruitment at WesternNebraska Community College; (4) procedures for filing complaints ofhousing discrimination with the Office of Fair Housing and EqualOpportunity; and (5) relationships between local law enforcementagencies and Native Americans and Hispanics. Appendices includenewspaper articles about Native American protests of police action
and the results of Chadron School District's survey of existingmulticultural education. (RAH)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *
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Nebraska Advisory Committee to theU.S. Commission on Civil Rights
BEST COPY AVAILAILC
U.S. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Rompatcn and Improvement
EOU ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)
Tins document haS been reproduced asreceived from the Person or Orcianiiiitiononglnating .5
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Points 01 new or opmons siatedn INS CIOCuwent do not necesSanly ,eivesen1 offic.alOE RI p03,1,0n or 001.CY
December 1994
A report of the Nebnag Advisory Committee to thefinitedStc is Commission on Civitg(ights preparelfor ihebtfortnationand consideration of the COMMiSSi011. ?This Iiktort wirbecopsidard by the Corrunisrion and the Commis:4os villme*
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The United States Commission on Civil RightsThe United States Commission on Civil Rights, first created by the Civil Rights Actof 1957, and reestablished by the United States Commission on Civil Rights Act of1983, is an independent, bipartisan agency of the Federal Government. By the termsof the 1983 act, the Commission is charged with the following duties pertaining todiScrimination or denials of the equal protection of the laws based on race, color,religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin, Or in the administration of justice:investigation of individual discriminatory denials of the right to vote; study of legaldevelopments with respect to discrimination or. denials of the equal protection of thelaw; appraisal of the laws and policies of the United States with respect to discrimina-tion or denials of equal protection of the law; maintenance of a national clearinghousefor information respecting discrimination or denials of equal p.otection of the law; andinvestigation of patterns, or practices of fraud or discrimination in the conduCt ofFederal elections. The Commission is also required to submit reports to the Presidentand the Congresi at such times as the Commission, the Congress, or the Presidentshall deem desirable.
The State Advisory CommitteesAn Advisory Committee to the United States Commiss,on on Civil Rights has beenestablished in each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia pursuant to section105(c) of the Civil Rights Act of1957 and section 6(c) of the United States CoMmissionon Clvil Rights Act of 1983. The Advisory Committees are made up of responsiblepersons who serve without compensation. Their functions under their mandate fromthe Commission are to: advise the Commission of all relevant information concerningtheir respective States on matters within the jurisdiction of the Commission; advisethe Commission on matters of mutual concern in the preparation of reports of theCommission to the President and the Congress; receive reports, suggestions, andrecommendations from individuals, public and private organizations, and publicofficials upon matters pertinent to inquiries conducted by the State Advisory Commit-tee; initiate and forward advice and recommendations to the Commission upon mattersin which the Commission shall request the assistance of the State AdvisoryCommittee; and attend, as observers, any open hearing or conference that theCommission may hold within the State.
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>41,16;041
Race Re latio inWestern Neb aska
Nebraska Advisory Committee to theU.S. Commission on Civil Rights
December 1994
A report of the Mbraskg Advisory Committee to the UniteiStatt; Commission on Civil Rights prepared for tie informationand consideration of the Commission. This report will be considered by the Commission and the Commission will mahpublic its reaction.
4
Letter of Transmittal
Nebraska Advisory Committee to theU.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Members of the CommissionMary Frances Berry, ChairpersonCruz Reynoso, Tice ChairpersonCarl A. AndersonArthur A. FletcherRobert GeorgeConstance HornerRussell G. Redenbaugh
Mary K. Mathews, Staff Director
The Nebraska Advisory Committee submits this summary report, Race Relations in WesternNebraska, to you for your consideration. By a vote of 11 to 0, the Advisory Committee approvedsubmission of this report.
The report stems from a community forum held by the Advisory Committee on April 28-29, 1993,in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, to obtain views on race relations in selected areas of western Nebraska.The Advisory Committee heard from concerned citizens, community leaders, Federal, State, andlocal government officials, educators, law enforcement officials, and persons from the businesscommunity.
It was reported to the Advisory Committee that steps are being taken to improve race relationsin western Nebraska, but there are those who believe that these steps are not enough.
It was pointed out by the acting director of the Nebraska Mexican American Commission thathousing discrimination was the agency's number one priority. The acting director indicated aninterest in having the agency reopen an office in western Nebraska to provide advocacy services forpersons in that area. The chair of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs also indicated thatthe agency should have an office in western Nebraska to provide information and advocacy services.
Educators discussed programs that were implemented to be more responsive to minority stu-dents. Some community representatives discussed their concerns over the high dropout rate forHispanic students and the lack of Hispanic instructors in public schools in Scottsbluff. It was statedby one participant that the Hispanic community must do its part to ensure that children attendschool. It was proposed that a task force be created, composed of community representatives,educators, and business leaders to come up with a solution to reduce the dropout rate. Further, itwas recommended that with the shortage of Hispanic teachers, scholarships for local Hispanics whoare interested in teaching should be created so that they will come back to the community to beinvolved in the education system.
The Advisory Committee is hopeful that race relations will continue to improve in westernNebraska. It believes that continued dialogue is the key to progress.
Respectfully,
Alcurtis Robinson, ChairpersonNebraska Advisory Committee
5
Nebraska Advisory Committee
Alcurtis Robinson, Chairperson Sister Phyllis HunhoffOmaha Lincoln
Duane W. AcklieLincoln
Betty LoudonLincoln
Rosa Elia Cobos Dianne G. MyersScottsbluff Lincoln
James D. FaimonLincoln
Art Hill*Omaha
Gary HillLincoln
Ella OchoaNorth Platte
Hoa Trong TranLincoln
Mimi WaldbaumOmaha
* No longer a member of the Advisory Committee
AcknowledgmentsThe Nebraska Advisory Committee wishes to thank the staff of the Commission's CentralRegional Office for its help in the preparation of this report. The project was the principalassignment of Ascension Hernandez with support from Jo Ann Daniels. The report was writtenby Melvin L. Jenkins. Editorial assistance and preparation of the report for publication wereprovided by Gloria Hong Izumi. The project was carried out under the overall supervision ofMelvin L. Jenkins, Director, Central Regional Office.
6
Contents
Introduction 1Background 1Population 1
Historical Western Nebraska 2Population Profile and Poverty in Western Nebraska 3
General Race Relations 6
Education 10Higher Education Perspective 15
Housing 17
Administration of Justice 19
Summary 22
TablesTable 1. Profile of Minority Group Population in Selected Cities in
Western Nebraska 1
Table 2. Percent of Population by Ethnicity, Poverty in Selected NebraskaCounties 4
Table 3. Regression Analysis of Ethnicity by Poverty 5
Appendices 23
Introduction
BackgroundOn April 3, 1992, the Nebraska AdvisoryCommittee met in Lincoln to discussproject activities. After much discussion
the Advisory Committee decided to focus itsattention on civil rights activities in westernNebraska. The Advisory Committee directedstaff of the Commission's Central RegionalOffice to gather background information inpreparation for a community forum to be heldin Scottsbluff.'
The Advisory Committee invited represen-tatives of Federal, State, and local govern-ments, community leaders, and representa-tives of community organizations to providean overview of civil rights issues in westernNebraska at a forum held on April 28.-29,1993.
PopulationWestern Nebraska cities that have a sub-
stantial minority group population includeScottsbluff, Alliance, Chadron, and Gordon. Abrief profile of the cities is shown in table 1.
Nebraska's Hispanic population grew 31.9percent (from 28,025 to 36,969) between 1980and 1990 and today is 2.3 percent of theState's population of 1,578,385. After whitesand blacks, Hispanics are the third largestpopulation group. Hispanics are over 10 per-cent of the population in rural places likeScottsbluff (19.8), McGrew (19.2), Mitchell(17.4), Bayard (15.1), Gering (11.9), Bridge-port (10.6), Lyman (43.6), Terrytown (29.9)and Cushings (20.0).2
According to 1990 census figures, AmericanIndians represent 1.6 percent of the popula-tion in Scotts Bluff County. There are 12,410American Indians, Eskimos, or Aleuts in theState of Nebraska.3
TABLE 1e of Minority GrOup Population in Selected Cities in Western Nebraska
Total Amer.City population Whit. Black Indian Asian HispanicScottsbluff 36,025 32,822 70 662 180 5,237Alliance 13,130 12,501 49 302 57 722Chadron 9,021 8,492 55 355 75 142Gordon 6,750 6,200 3 524 16 68
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census ofPopulation and Housing Characteristics, Nebraska.
2
3
Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Meeting Minutes, Apr. 3, 1992.
Midwest-Northeast Voter Registration Education Project, May 1991, Chicago.
Ibid.
C 1
Historical Western NebraskaWestern Nebraska was mostly a wilderness
some 150 to 200 years ago. Rivers born of thesnows in the Rocky Mountains stretchedacross the plains to the east. One, the PlatteRiver, became the main route for westernexpansion. Pioneers in search of land, gold,and religious freedom all followed the GreatPlatte River Road. It was better known as theOregon, Mormon, and California Trails.Later, the Pony Express, the first transconti-nental telegraph line, and the first transcon-tinental railroad also followed the river road.Today, highways have replaced the "wagon-ruts," but nevertheless, the Platte River isprobably the most influential single factor inthe development of western Nebraska, pastand present.4
For thousands of years ancient man inhab-ited the land of western Nebraska. There isarchaeological evidence which indicates thatAsiatic wanderers who ranged the area 10,000years ago were the ancestors of the AmericanIndians living in this region when tl':e firstwhite man came.5 The Sioux and Cheyennetribes came to western Nebraska in the 1770sfrom the Great Lake area. They were hunterswho followed the migrating buffalo herds thatgrazed on the abundance of short stemgrasses. The first white man known to havebeen through the area was Robert Stuart,with some Astorion fur traders from the Co-lumbia River in Oregon. They traveled fromwest to east, journeying to St. Louis in 1812-1813. They descended the continental dividevia the Sweetwater and North Platte Riversto winter in present-day Henry, Nebraska.Their jo'.rney blazed the route destined tobecome the Oregon Trails
More than a quarter million travelers dur-ing a 20-year span of time proved the westernterrain, climate, and Indians posed no insur-mountable obstacle to travel. When the Indi-ans became sensitive to the hordes of invad-ers, a general treaty council to ensure safetyof travel over the Oregon Trail was held inSeptember 1851 near Lyman, Nebraska. Thelargest gathering of Plains tribes ever assem-bled, some 10,000 Indians met with Indianagent Thomas Fitzpatrick and the superin-tendent of Indian affairs, David D. Mitchell.The treaty established tribal boundaries,specified peaceful relations among tribes, andauthorized the laying out of roads and theconstl action of military posts in Indian terri-tory.7
As the German-Russians immigrantsmoved to western Nebraska and prospered,there was a need for an additional source oflabor to work in the beet fields. Restrictionson the importation of Mexican workers werelifted by the Federal Government. In 1917 theGreat Western Sugar Company encouragedMexican nationals to work in the beet fields.8The rapid increase in Mexican immigrationgave rise to new, distinct, social and economicproblems. After the harvest, many Mexicansreturned to Mexico. Those who stayed in theNorth Platte Valley did not assimilate into thecommunities readily because of social preju-dice. Mexicans found it difficult to leave farmsand to move up the economic ladder. Theirdifficulty in understanding English led tosome exploitation by the local merchants andfarmers. Sometimes Mexicans were chargeddouble for purchases of food and clothing. Thenumber of beet acres worked was sometimesfalsely represented or growers failed to honor
4 Western Nebraska, official publication of the Western Nebraska United Chamber of Commerce, Grand Island, NE,1992.
5 Jane Barbour, Ramsey, The Bluff Called MA-A-PA-TE, Meadow Circle Publication, Estes Park, 1990.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
2
their signed contracts with the Mexican labor-ers, thus paying them lower wages for theirwork.9
In 1920, when the head tax and literacyrequirements were lifted by the U.S. Govern-ment, the Great Western Sugar Company be-came a more active recruiter of Mexican laborin south Texas. Labor trains brought theworkers north to Denver and, eventually, alabor camp was established at Fort Lupton tohouse and feed Mexican laborers before theirmove to Nebraska worksites. This labor re-cruitment met with competitors from Texasgrowers who were determined to retain theMexican laborers to work in the cotton fields.
In 1965 the labor policy changed. No moreMexican nationals could be hired. Great West-ern began to contract Mexican Americans liv-ing in Texas for work in the beet fields, and asmany as 6,000 laborers were hired. Today,some Texas migrant workers still come to thevalley co harvest the beets. However, since1950 mechanization has increased and themajority of acres are now thinned by ma-chine. I°
Population Profile and Poverty inWestern Nebraska
John Allen, a rural sociologist at the Uni-versity of Nebraska-Lincoln, spoke to the Ad-visory Committee regarding the compositionof the population in western Nebraska and itsrelationship to the poverty level. He said thatthe 1990 census data classified a family of fouras living in poverty if its income fell below$12,067 per year."
9 Ibid.
to Ibid.
Dr. Allen noted that in the United Statesthere was a 53 percent increase in the numberof persons of Hispanic origin from 1980 to1990 (see table 1). From 1980 to 1990, table 2shows an increase of 27.7 percent for theAmerican Indian, Eskimo and Aleut popula-tion in the United States. In Nebraska, duringthe same period of time, the increase was 35.3percent for the American Indian, Eskimo andthe Aleut population and 30.8 percent for theHispanic population.I2
Dr. Allen further stated:
When we examine the demographic composition ofthe white population between 1980-1990 at thenational level, there was a 5.6 percent increase inthe number of people identified as white; yet inNebraska, there was a decrease of 1.1 percent. Sowhile the Hispanic population grew by 8,070 peopleand the American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut popu-lation grew by 3,057, the white population declinedby 16,615 people statewide between 1980 and1990.13
In an examination of the population byspecific counties within the western Nebraskaregion, Dr. Allen noted:
Scotts Bluff County has the highest percentage ofHispanic members: 14.5 percent of the populationof Scotts Bluff County were identified as Hispanicin 1990, while Sheridan County had only 1.0 percent of its population identified as Hispanic. On theother hand, the Native American population madeup 7.3 percent of the population in SheridanCounty while in Garden County no Native Ameri-cans were reported in the 1990 census (see table 2).
11 Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Community Forum on Race Relations inWestern Nebraska, Scottsbluff, NE, Apr. 28-29, 1994, vol. 1, p. 7 (hereafter cited as Transcript).
12 John Allen, Ph.D., Profile of Minority Populations in the Panhandle Areas of Northwestern Nebraska, presented tothe U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Factfinding Meeting on Race Relations in Western Nebraska, Apr. 28, 1993(heieafter cited as Allen Paper).
13 Ibid., p. 2; see also table 1.
IC3
TABLE gPercent of Population by Ethnicity, Poverty, and Selected Nebraska Counties
Area% Whites
(non-Hispanic)% Hispanic
origin% NativeAmerican
% Belowpoverty level
Nebraska 92.5 2.3 0.7 11.1Banner 97.3 2.2 0.4 21.8Box Butte 91.6 5.5 2.1 11.7Cheyenne 95.7 3.3 0.7 10.2Dawes 93.2 1.6 0.7 22.3Dewel 94.7 4.6 0.4 12.2Garden 99.4 0.6 0.0 15.1Kimball 96.1 3.6 0.2 11.5Morril 91.3 8.0 0.5 14.8Scotts Bluff 83.1 14.5 1.6 15.5Sheridan 91.4 1.0 7.3 18.1Sioux 96.9 2.8 0.1 16.4
Source: U.S. census Bureau 1990; compiled byDr. John Allen.
Poverty among residents was also analyzed andindicates Dawes County had 22.3 percent of itspopulation living below the poverty level (see table2). In 1989, the year for which poverty was mea-sured by the decennial census, a family of four wasclassified as living in poverty if their income fellbelow $12,067. This compares with a NebraskaState average of 11.1 percent.
Regression analysis can be used to examine therelationship between ethnicity and poverty. In thewestern Nebraska region of the State, there is nota relationship between living in poverty and beingHispanic. Although the findings are not statisti-cally significant, the correlations do indicate a neg-ative relationship exists between Hispanic and liv-ing below the poverty level. In regard to the NativeAmerican population, there is a positive relation-
14 Ibid., p. 3; see also tables 2 and 3.
16 Ibid., p. 4.
4
ship between living below the poverty level andbeing identified as Native American within thewestern Nebraska region (see table 3). It should benoted that these relationships are weak and thatthe possibility of the findings being due to errorexists.14
In conclusion Dr. Allen said:
As these findings indicate, the population of His-panics is growing in the western Nebraska regionof the State. There is not a relationship betweenbeing Hispanic and living below the poverty level.Although not statistically significant, this analysisindicates that a slight relationship may exist be-tween being a Native American and having anincome below the poverty leve1.15
11.
TABLE 3Regression Analysis of Ethnicity by Poverty
WhiteConviations
Hispanic Native Amer. PovertyWhite 1.000 -0.838 -0.348 -0.020Hispanic -0.838 1.000 -0.213 -0.241Native Amer. -0.348 -0.213 1.000 0.409Poverty -0.020 -0.241 0.409 1.000
Adjusted R Square -.03888.Analysis done by Dr. John Allen.
12
5
General Race Relations
teve Janis, a paralegal for Western Ne-Obraska Legal Services, provided the Advi-
sory Committee some insight as to thestate of race relations in the area. He said thatover the years there have been numerous in-cidents of alleged mis. reatment of AmericanIndians by police autlli cities in the Panhan-dle.' In general, Mr. Jar. is noted a dual stan-dard of justice not only in police-communityrelations but in housing discrimination, thelack of health programs, and the lack of edu-cation programs.'
Connie Stairs of Alliance, Nebraska, and amember of the American Indian Council, Inc.,also provided the Advisory Committee withsome general comments regarding race rela-tions. She said:
I sat for a couple of nights trying to write everythingthat's been going on in Alliance, and living in thispart of the country for 40 years. . . . I know there'sprejudice and I see it every day.... I'm here becauseI'm a mother. I have seven children that I'm rais-ing, [and] they are going through the same thingthat I went through when I was in school. I didn'tget to finish school because I was fighting the whitekids all the time. You know, being called dirtynames, "squaw," you know. That was one reasonwhy I quit school, and that's why I'm here nowbecause of the prejudice that we do have in Alli-ance.3
In concluding her remarks on the general racerelations, Ms. Stairs said:
In Alliance you see it [prejudice] everywhere. Yougo into a store in Alliance, they see you walk in, thefirst thing they do is start watching you. They havesomebody follow you to make sure you're not goingto steal. These are the things that go on.4
Susan Esparza, executive director of theNative American Center in Chadron, Ne-braska, told the Advisory Committee thateven today American Indians are called"squaw" or told, "Dirty Indian, go back to yourtepees." She related several alleged incidentsof police abuse of outhority of American In-dian children and persons in homeless shel-ters. Ms. Esparza concluded by stating, "Thetreatment of our people is unfair. It is blindjustice."5
Cecilia Huerta, the acting director of theNebraska Mexican American Commission, re-ported that the commission is charged withthe responsibility of collecting facts and sta-tistics and making special studies of condi-tions and problems affecting the general wel-fare of Hispanics in the State.6 She noted that:
In 1985prior to 1985, the Commission had anoffice here in western Nebraska. During the Kerryadministration the State experienced a budget cri-sis and the office in Scottsbluff was closed, alongwith the office in Lincoln. It was reopened, in Lin-coln only, in 1986 and with a staff cf one, and wenow have a staff of three. Anytime the State ofNebraska has a budget crunch, the commissions,the advocacy commissions are challenged to justify
Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Community Forum on Race Relations inWestern Nebraska, Scottsbluff, NE, Apr. 28-29,1994, vol. 1, pp. 56-60 (hereafter cited as Transcript).
2 Ibid., p. 54.
3 Ibid., pp. 74-75.
4 Ibid., p. 81.
5 Ibid., p. 92.
6 Ibid., pp. 99-100.
136
their existence. This year again the Commission onthe Status of Women, the Mexican American Com-mission, and the Commission on Indian Affairs hashad to appear before the Nebraska legislative ap-propriations committee to justify their existence.And so far this year we have done that.7
Ms. Huerta told the Advisory Committee thatthe Commission has sponsored educationalseminars on civil wages, wages equity, em-ployment discrimination, and parental in-volvement in the education system.8 She saidthat the commission was:
Instrumental in assisting the community of Lex-ington to contract with the U.S. Department ofJustice and have someone come out and do commu-nity relations work, and that was after a Hispanicyoung man was shot and killed by police officers inthe Gothenberg area. That case want before agrand jury and the two police officers were exoner-ated of any wrongdoing in that case .9
Ms. Huerta also reported:
Things that have come to the attention of the Mex-ican American Commission from this particulararea in the areas of housing, housing discrimina-tion, police brutality, employer discrimination, andan issue of speaking Spanish on the jobwhetheror not one employee can speak Spanish to anotheremployee on the job and whether or not the em-ployer has the right to go ahead and indicate thatthere is no Spanish to be spoken on the job at all.
We have also encountered differences in sentencingtrends. Differences in violations and how thoseviolations are taken care of. Further, health careseems to be an issue. Inadequate health care ornonavailability of health care and insurance care.Also nonavailability of emergency room services tomigrant workers. Inadequate translations within
7 Ibid., pp. 101-02.
8 Ibid., p. 102.
9 Ibid., p. 103.
10 Ibid., pp. 102-03.
11 Ibid., p. 106.
12 Ibid., p. 107.
the court system seems to be a problem. There isalso a problem, a couple of instances of harassmentand brutality, inequity of sentencing in the Alliancearea also.
I also was raised in this area. [I] was gone from thisare[a] for a while and then returned for a short timeof about 10 years. During the time that I returned,I could see that the racism and discrimination hadnot been overcome. Migrants and Hispanic peoplewho are not of high income are treated poorly andlooked upon as a low class type of people. TheEuropean American people here are very judg-mental, using racial slurs and equating that every-one must have the behavioral standard that theyequate as the norm. Things have not changed overthe years, and I believe that there is a communityrelations and a sensitivity training that needs to beconducted in this area.10
Ms. Huerta was questioned by the AdvisoryCommittee as to the prospect of reopening acommission office in western Nebraska and asto the effectiveness of the former office. Sheindicated that by not having a commissionoffice in this portion of the State, persons feelthat their issues have been forgotten. Whenthe commission had an office in the area,"there were issues that were being dealt withand there was some progress."11 Ms. Huertawas not very optimistic about reopening acommission office in Scottsbluff.'4
When asked to prioritize problems faced byHispanics in western Nebraska, Ms. Huertasaid that the number one priority is housingdiscrimination. This was followed by the lackof health care, employment, and education.She also indicated to the Advisory Committeethat if her agency were not facing budget
7
restrictions, she would recommend reopeningan office in western Nebraska to assist whenproblems arise." Ms. Huerta added:
To do an adequate job in representing the people ofthis area, I believe we would need to l- lye a repre-sentative in the north Lexington area and also inthe Scottsbluff area. The Scottsbluff area would.cover Chadron and Alliance. Lexington would coverNorth Platte, McCook, and Holdridge.14
Reaves Nahwooks, chair of the NebraskaCommission on Indian Affairs, shared his con-cerns on the state of race relations in westernNebraska with the Advisory Committee. Hesaid that in the past the commission has ad-vocated for an office in western Nebraska toprovide assistance in regard to discriminatorypractices.15 Mr. Nahwooks said:
So many of the tensions that we've dealt withresulted from deaths which have occurred causingconflict among the Native American Indian lit zensand others in their different communities. In thosecases, we have tried to work to bring about someunderstanding to all citizens.16
To deal with the question of race relationsMr. Nahwooks said that the Indian affairscommission has developed a 5-year plan toinclude health problems, education, employ-ment, Indian civil and human rights, eco-nomic development, and the structure of thecommission .17
Mayor Donald Overman of Scottsbluff toldthe Advisory Committee:
Through the years, I've really had very little indi-cation that we have great problems. Certainly wehave about 20 percent Hispanic population here.They've been here for as long as most everybodyelse has been here. We have about one-half of 1percent Native Americana. And, overall, I think therelationship between those parts of our communityand the other parts of our community, in general,is quite good. Certainly you will hear some prob-lems, because everybody has problems. But overall,I think we get along very well together, and that'scertainly always been my analysis and it's been mygoal in that if we have problems we need to addressthose problems and try to solve them, for the bestinterest of everybody that lives together.18
Steve Sexton, superintendent of the Chad-ron School District, told the Advisory Commit-tee that race relations in his community ismoving in a positive direction. He added:
And I also know that perceptions differ. There areindividuals who believe that you can change per-ceptions overnight, and we found that quick fixesdon't work. We believe that our best shot at makingthings better is to work with little kids that becomebig kids, and not to give up on the big kids... . Butmy feeling is that since the mid-seventies and per-haps even early eighties that things are moving ina positive direction.19
Alan M% 'len, assistant city manager ofScottsbluff, told the Advisory Committee that,in reference to race relations in Scottsbluff:
Like anywhere, there's discrimination here, there'sbias here. But in my opinion, it's no greater herethan I've seen in any of the other places that I'velived. And, you know, bias is an unfortunate fact,unfortunately. I think in that regard someone
13 Ibid., p. 110.
14 Ibid., p. 112.
15 Ibid., p. 285.
16 Ibid., p. 286.
17 Ibud., pp. 290-91.
18 Ibid., pp. 146-47.
19 Ibid., p. 256; see also comments of Ronald Sylvester, Transcript, pp. 272-72.
8
coming to Scottsbluff is not going to see somethingdramatically different than they are going to se, n.other places.2°
Hod Kosman, preside,it of the FirsTierBank in Scottsbluff and Gering, noted somecommunity programs that his institution isinvolved in. He said:
20 Ibid., pp. 479-80.
21 Ibid., pp. 484-85.
And as a prominent financial institution in the areaI believe that we must be a leader in developingproducts and programs that serve our entire com-munity, and that we must take the lead in support-ing economic development, education, and housinginitiatives.21
I C
9
Education
During its 2-day community forum, theAdvisory Committee heard allegationsthat some of the personnel in some of the
public schools in western Nebraska were in-sensitive to American Indians and Hispanics.School administrators and teachers did notpunish white children who used insensitivelanguage in describing minorities. ConnieStairs told the Advisory Committee that herschool-aged children, ". . are going throughthe same thing that I went through when Iwas in school."'
Susan Esparza, executive director of theNative American Center in Chadron, said:
I'm here on behalf of the Native American childrenthat are in Dawes County school system. Our chil-dren are being harassed, degraded in every way.There is a lot of racism, discrimination against ourchildren. We had a count of 120 Native Americanchildren, which has now dropped to about 69 in theschool system, because of this. They were con-stantly being called names, "Dirty Indian," "Canni-bal Indians," "Go back where you came from. Yourkind is not wanted here."2
Ms. Esparza reported an incident to theAdvisory Committee whereby a young Amer-ican Indian girl in the seventh grade was toldthat the reason Crazy Horse Malt Liquor wasnamed so was because American Indians aredrunks. The matter was taken up with aschool official but to no avail.' She added:
They want an education without being callednames. "You Indian people, all you have is commod-ities." I believe that the school systems need to beeducated. It's the schools that need to be educated.Teachers need to learn the culture. They need to gothrough sensitivity training, and i feel that theyshould be investigated. This needs to be investi-gated because our children are suffering. And Iasked the parents to give me statements that I canpresent tonight and these parents told me that theywere afraid to. They were afraid of retaliation fromthe schools; they were afraid of retaliation from thepolice; they were afraid that when things got backthat they would be harassed; they would be cut offof any services that they receive, so I told them Iwould still come and speak in behalf of the NativeAmericans in Dawes County.4
Ms. Esparza was asked whether or not par-ents have addressed their concerns of differ-ent incident; of discrimination to the localschool district. Specifically she was queried:"Is there a complaint system within the localschool district?"5 Ms. Esparza responded:
Well, usually is [a complaint] just runs from thestudent to the principal and then the principallooks into it, and then if nothing is done then theparent takes it to the superintendent. From thesuperintendent, it goes to the school board.6
However, Ms. Esparza did not know if anyparents had filed complaints with the localschool board.?
Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Community Forum on Race Relations inWestern Nebraska, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Apr. 28-2 1993, p. 76 (hereafter cited as Transcript).
2 Ibid., p. 87.
3 Ibid., p. 88.
4 Ibid., p. 89.
5 Ibid., p. 97.
6 Ibid.
1(10
Cecilia Huerta, the acting director of theNebraska Mexican American Commission,shared her concerns about the Scottsbluffschool district. She said:
The dropout rate in Scottsbluff is higher than inany other part of the State. There are more Hispan-ics. A lot of justification is given to why the dropoutrate is so high; that migrant )ming through foronly a short time are counter n that, and there'scontroversy as to whether or not they should becounted as dropouts or as just leave outs. And mostof all the dropout problem, there's discrimination.There is a lack of counseling for Hispanics. Hispan-ics were not allowed to participate in sports pro-grams the way that other European and Americandescendent children are allowed to. . . . 8
Raymond Gonzalez, of Scottsbluff and amember of the governing board of WesternNebraska Community College, spoke to theAdvisory Committee about Hispanic dropoutsand the lack of Hispanic instructors in publicschools in Scottsbluff. Although he did notpresent dropout statistics to the AdvisoryCommittee, Mr. Gonzalez was concernedabout how dropouts were defined by the schooldistrict. He said that:
.... as wasexplained to me, you may have a studentthat starts the academic year and drops out mid-way through the year or drops out in the firstsemester but re-enters in the second semester. Itwas explained that those figures are taken by aca-demic year so that a student may be back in schoolin the second semester but still considered a drop-out. And then you get into the figures, the interpre-tation of figures. Is it from 7th grade to 12th grade?Is it from 9th grade to 12th grade?9
7 Ibid., p. 98.
8 Ibid.. p. 108.
9 Ibid., p. 175.
10 Ibid., p. 177.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid., P. 172.
Mr. Gonzalez noted that there is enoughdata on the dropout problem, but that publicschool officials need to take stronger action todeal with the issue. He added:
.... the Hispanic community must be held account-able as well. They must do their part to ensure thatchildren attend school and that their opinions andtheir concerns are voiced by Hispanic leaders,themselves.19
He proposed:
. . . . the creation of a task force made up of publicofficials, from school boards, from community andcollege boards, and business, because business isdirectly impacted by this dropout rate. 'believe thistask force, in a joint effort of all school officials andpolicymakers, is best suited to solve this problem.School officials can foster, can oversee and provideinput, but policymakers are those in the best placeto make these decisions that will impact this drop-out rate.11
The second issue that Mr. Gonzalez raisedwith the Advisory Committee was his concernover the lack of Hispanic teachers in theScottsbluff school system. He indicated thathe was told by some in the education field thatthere are very few Hispanic educators. Thosethat come out of college with a degree go wherethey can get top dollar for their degree.' How-ever, Mr. Gonzalez recommended:
I believe that we can grow our own instructors whowill come back to teach those that really have aninterestHispanics that really have an interestin seeing a reversal of s dropout rate, by address-ing this in the same way that a shortage of doctorsis being addressed. Creating Fulbright Scholar-ships for teachers, for students who will go on to get
'C11
their teaching certificates and then come back toteach, paying their tuition from end to end with anagreement that they will be back, and I believesome of that is beginning to be implemerited.13
The Advisory Committee asked Mr. Gonza-lez to discuss, in general, race relations prob-lems in the local school district. He respondedby saying that he did not think it is a racerelations problem but one of insensitivity. Mr.Gonzalez said, "I think it is just a misunder-standing of the culture."14
In an attempt to obtain a fuller view of racerelations within the public schools, the Advi-sory Committee invited Steve Sexton, super-intendent of the Chadron School District, andRonald Reichardt, superintendent of theScottsbluff School District.
Dr. Sexton reported that, as of the AdvisoryCommittee meeting, the Chadron School Dis-trict had a student population of 1,065. Of thattotal, 11.5 percent were minorities, withAmerican Indians making up the greatestwith 9.2 percent.16 The school district em-ployed 127.65 persons, and of that figure 49are classified, including 7 males, 42 females.There are four minorities employed in classi-fied positions. There are 78.65 certified indi-viduals, including 6 administrators, 5 malesand 1 female. There are 17 male faculty mem-bers, including 2 minorities.16
Dr. Sexton reported to the Advisory Com-mittee the disciplinary actions that weretaken during the 1992-93 school year:
.. seven students dropped out of school; six werewhite and one was Native American. There werefive out-of-school suspensions, three of which werewhite r.tales, two were Native American males.There were 43 students assigned in-school suspen-
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., p. 177.
is Ibid., p. 234.
16 Ibid., p. 235.
17 Ibid., pp. 235-36.
18 Ibid., p. 239; see also app. B.
12
sions; 2 were at the high school; 3 were elementary;and 38 were middle school students. Of the total of38 middle schools students, 32 were white, 2 wereHispanic, 9 were Native American. Thus, 74.4 per-cent were white, 5 percent were Hispanic, and 20.9percent were Native American.
During the first semester of 1992-93 there were 14instances of unsatisfactory behavior reported to theprincipal at Kenwood. Kenwood is one of our ele-mentaries. Five of those students were white, onewas Native American, one was black. All repeatoffenders were white students.
IAt Eastwood Elementary School there were 70instances of unsatisfactory behavior reported in-volving 38 individuals. Of those individuals in-volved, 30 were white, 1 was Hispanic, 5 wereNative Americans, 2 were Asian. For the entireelementary level, 7 percent then were NativeAmerican, 1 percent were Hispanic, 1 percent wereblack, 2 percent were Asian, and 89 percent werewhite.17
Dr. Sexton also discussed with the AdvisoryCommittee efforts to address multiculturaleducation. The school district has providedfaculty in-service training; faculty and stu-dent presentations; and has sought assistancein developing multicultural curriculum andmaterials. Further, effo its have been made toimprove contacts among American Indianparents in the school district. Dr. Sexton indi-cated that an American Indian home-schoolliaison person was hired to increase contactswith parents.18
Dr. Sexton concluded his prepared remarksby stating:
1 C
Clearly, we do not live in a perfect world. We areaware of the possibility of divergence of perceptionsand reality. It is our intent, as evidenced by ourefforts, to reduce differences between perceptionand reality. We do not intend to allow perceptions,nor the fact that Chadron has limited financialresources, to stand in the way of providing a qualityeducation program; and one in which equity is morenearly achieved.19
In response to questions from the AdvisoryCommittee regarding allegations that someschool district teachers were insensitive toAmerican Indian students and allowed namecalling, Dr. Sexton said:
I would challenge the accuracy of that statement. Ihave no knowledge that there is an accurate state-ment. I believe that, certainly, as I indicated in myclosing remark, that I believe there are percep-tions, all kinds of perceptions of what is and is nothappening. I've attended meetings w" ere chargeshave been made of one kind and ar,other, and whenand where those are made directly to me with anykind of definition at all, I follow up on them todetermine their validity. One of the problems thatyou run into is when a charge like that is made ifthere isn't anything really to substantiate it orfollow up on it, it's very difficult to run down. Oneof the things that we were interested in, that wewanted to know for our own purposes, was whatwere the incidences of student behavior and misbe-havior at the elementary level, and this all per-tained to the issue of conflict resolution. Most of thedifficulties we found are kid-kid kinds ofstudent-student kinds of problems. And the fact is that mostof those difficulties were with white students. Wefeel the incidences of those with the Native Amer-ican students either being accused of being in trou-ble or being sent to the office, whatever, were small.So, insofar as those comments being made by fac-ulty, we challenge that. Whether or not they arebeing made by students of various belief systems, Ihave no way of responding to that. I can tell you,
though, that the belief systems of students is anarea that we are very committed to addressing.And, in fact, I think the record will show that we'vetried to move in that direction 20
Dr. Sexton was also asked to explain his planof action to improve race relations in theschools. He responded:
The plan that we have developed over the last 18months certainly is targeted in improving relationsamong all students, and would include the NativeAmerican community. So far as involvement ofstudents in school life we, you know, in looking atit, I guess it's just like aa student community isjust like, I think, the unstudent community. Youhave students who involve themselves in activities;students who don'tinvolve themselves in activities.I know we're going to continue to try to improvehow students relate to each other, all students. Itwas interesting to me to note, and I was pleased tofind, that 70 percent of our Native American stu-dents in high school are involved in some kind ofactivities in addition to school. The fact that theyare in those activities and they continue in themsuggests to me that they feel comfortable in thatsetting or they wouldn't do it.21
Ronald Reichardt, superintendent ofScottsbluff Public Schools, and Ronald Sylves-ter, director of Student Services, provided anoverview of activities within the school dis-trict. It was noted that the school district isthe largist in western Nebraska with a stu-dent enrollment of 3,158 (67 percent white, 6percent Asian American, 27 percent Hispanic,5 percent American Indian, and .03 percentblack). The district employed 347 persons; 219were certified employees and 128 were non-certified. There were 238 females and 109males. Further, there were 6 Hispanic certi-fied teachers and 20 Hispanic noncertified
19 Steve Sexton, Ph.D., prepared remarks presented to the Nebraska Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission on CivilRights, Scottsbluff, NE, Apr. 29, 1993.
20 Ibid., pp. 246-47.
21 Ibid., pp. 248-49.
13
employees. The district had only one Ameri-can Indian employee who served as a home-school liaison person.'
Mr. Sylvester reported the following re-garding school dropouts:
Last year in grades 9 through 12, which are thegrades where students most often drop out, we had40 students drop out of our school system; 21 ofthose were females and 19 were males; 21 werewhite, 17 Hispanic, and 2 Native American. Now,if you'd like to do some quick math, I didn't do it foryou there. You can come up with a very alarmingfigure. You can say that 42 percent of all the His-panics in the Scottsbluff schools drop out everyyear, and that's what the media most often quoteswhen they have the opportunity.
If you really take a look at the actual facts, therewere 189 Hispanic students enrolled at the begin-ning of the school year and with 17 of f' se stu-dents dropping out during the year, we have anactual dropout rate of 9 percent of the studentsenrolled in the beginning of the school year. Of the26 Native American students who enrolled, 2 diddrop out, for an actual figure of 7 percent. I alwayshave difficulties with dropout rates because youcan do anything you want to with those dropoutrates, and, in fact, I do many times when writing agrant, I make them just as alarming as I canbecause we get more money that way. But I knowI hate. to have the whole school judged on a dropoutrate, and that's usually the very first thing thatthey talk about when they talk about schools.23
Mr. Sylvester related further:
Our completer rate I think is a better sort of thingto look at. In the class of '92 there were 172 stu-dents; 31 of those students were Hispanic or 18percent; 2 of those students were Native American.
22 Ibid., pp. 257-58.
23 Ibid., pp. 259-60.
24 Ibid., pp. 260-61.
25 Ibid., p. 265.
26 Ibid., p. 270.
14
The projection for this year's class, and I just talkedto the high school principal this morning andchanged these figures a bit because things aremoving along here as we get towards graduationdate. We will have 191 seniors; of that group, 42 ofthe students are Hispanic and 7 students are Na-tive American. An interesting class this year is thateight students are tied with a 4.0 grade point aver-age and will serve as co-valedictorians. Two ofthose students are Hispanic. We have seven NativeAmerican students graduating. This is the largestnumber in the 20 years that I have kep', records onit. The interesting thing about that, four of thosestudents started in kindergarten here in our schoolsystem and are finishing. We're extremely proud ofthat and we give a lot of credit for that to our title5 grant and our parent committee that we'veworked with.24
MT. Sylvester told the Adviscry Committeeabout numerous programs that the school dis-trict has put in place, including cultural andtransitional language classes. He said that thetransitional language class was instituted be-cause Hispanic parents did not want bilingualeducation but that they wanted their children"to learn to speak English, read English andwrite English."25 Further, Mr. Sylvester notedthat American Indian students have organ-ized several dance clubs, "and this has done agreat deal for the kids' esteem. "26 He alsorelated that American Indian students haveshared their life experiences with students ofanother school district that did not haveAmerican Indian students.
In responding to a query regarding theschool district's working relationship with theHispanic and American Indian communities,Mr. Sylvester said:
21
I have probably this spring written two or threeletters of support to various kinds of activities thatthey are doing through the Indian Center that willprofit the kids and the school. The Indian commu-nity divides and subdivides; that's an ongoing thingthat we just have to deal with. It's interesting aswe work with these two communities. The Hispaniccommunity has all kinds of wonderful ideas and allId-1" of things they are working on, and little or nore.. _es. The Native American community has allkinds of resourcesdollars, title 5, Johnson-O'Malley, everything elsebut has difficulty or-ganizing and working and taking full advantage ofall those. That's what I say, there's a lot of JOMmoney that has not been utilized as it should havebeen in the community.27
During the course of the AdvisoryCommittee's review of information prior to thecommunity forum, the Advisory Committeefound that some Hispanic parents were con-cerned that their children were missing toomany days from school because of disciplinarysuspensions. Mr. Sylvester was asked to com-ment about the district's school suspensionpolicy. He indicated that as a first step, de-pending upon the nature of the offense, thedistrict provides for an in-school suspensionprogram whereby a suspension supervisorworks with the student in completing classassignments. He noted that, "when offensesget greater, then you would have an out-of-school suspension."'
Higher Education PerspectiveThe Advisory Committee was concerned
with what the local community college wasdoing to attract minority students graduatingfrom the various high schools in western Ne-braska. Jim Hunter, vice president for Stu-dent Services, Western Nebraska CommunityCollege, shared with the Advisory Committeesome of the programs and activities that have
27 Ibid., p. 277.
28 Ibid., p. 280.
29 Ibid., p. 156.
been instituted at the local community col-lege. In the spring of 1993, Western NebraskaCommunity College enrolled 600 full-timestudents and approximately 1,500 part-timestudents. Hispanic enrollment rose from 97students in 1987 to 151 in the spring of 1992.In the same period, American Indian enroll-ment went from 25 to 38.29
Dr. Hunter told the Advisory Committeethat, in 1987, the college established HispanicAdvisory Committee to provide input on vari-ous programs and activities that should beoffered to recruit and maintain Hispanic stu-dents. He noted that:
And one of the things that came out of our advisorycommittee was the need to look at what are thebarriers to a student's success and then how can weovercome those barriers. So we set about to do astudy. The study has been completed. We've iden-tified those barriers and we have set together anaction plan to attempt to work out, resolve, andremediate those barriers. Some of the barriers thatwere perceived were lack of participation and senseof belonging; low self-esteem; no sense of culturalidentity or ethnicity; lack of parental involvementand support; poor and no motivation; lack of oppor-tunity awareness; lack of self-awareness. So thecollege has put together, through the MulticulturalAssistance Plan, a series of activities, an actionplan, to help alleviate those barriers.
The college's action plan included utilizinga consultant to work with the Hispanic Advi-sory Committee to discuss cultural infusioninto the college's course offerings, cross-cul-tural communication, and culture in the class-room. The college is also developing an orien-tation course through its minority assistanceprogram to help students improve their suc-cess in college. Dr. Hunter also mentioned acultural fair that about 450 persons attended,a program focusing on minority role models,
r4. 4
15
and a peer mentoring project.3° These activi-ties were developed to bring about a multi-cultural environment.
Dr. Hunter also pointed out that the collegewas in the process of forming an AmericanIndian Advisory Committee to identify bar-riers to recruiting and retaining AmericanIndian students. In response to an AdvisoryCommittee inquiry as to a factor that makesit difficult for American Indians to make thetransition from a school dropout to a schoolgraduate, Dr. Hunter said:
ao Ibid., pp. 160-61.
31 Ibid., pp. 164-65.
16
One of the things, we met with some representa-tives of the Native American community and one ofthe items that they presented was the primarycause was the disease of alcoholism. And we'reseriously looking at the impact of alcoholism on thestudents' persistence and how we might offer somesupport, both in terms ofin a variety of ways, ifthat is indeed thebut right now we're still lookingat that, is that, indeed, the primary cause or one ofthe primary causes. We have not factored it out,though, specifically beyond that at this time.31
04
Housing
As a part of its information sharing processof the community forum, the AdvisoryCommittee invited representatives of the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban De-velopment, Office of Fair Housing and EqualOpportunity (FHEO), to provide an overviewof filing complaints of housing discriminationwith FHEO and other related information.Aaron Levine and Stella Alejos representedFHEO.
Mr. Levine said his office investigates alle-gations of housing discrimination on the basisof race, color, national origin, religion, sex,familial status, or handicap.' He noted thatthe Fair Housing Act, as amended,2 prohibitsdiscrimination in the sale or rental of a dwell-ing, including the negotiation of terms, condi-tions, or privileges, and in the provision ofservices or facilities. It also prohibits discrim-ination in advertising that shows any prefer-ence or limitation or makes the premises un-available for showing, blockbusting andcoercion or other interference in a protectedindividual's rights, and discrimination in fi-nancing of housing.3
Mr. Levine said that persons who feel thatthey have been discriminated against shouldfile their complaints immediately after thediscriminatory act has occurred. FHEO is re-quired by law, unless it is impossible to do so,to conduct its investigation within 100 days.4
In outlining the procedure for filing a Federalcomplaint of housing discrimination, Mr.Levine said:
What is the procedure for filing a complaint andwho may file? The people who can file are aggrievedpersons, and those are people who believe theyhave been treated in a different way, in a differentdiscriminatory way from people who are not of theirparticular protected class or group. So, if you'reHispanic, you might allege that a non-Hispanic wastreated more favorably or that you were treatedless favorably when you were looking for housing,when yOu applied for a loan.5
After a complaint of discrimination has beenfiled, Mr. Levine continued:
We [FHEO] investigate the complaint. We willattempt conciliation. The first thing when you filethe complaint we establish jurisdiction. We maynot have jurisdiction. There's some complaints thatwe will not have jurisdiction for. But once we'veestablished jurisdiction we will contact the com-plainant and the respondent and send them initialletters notifying them that the complaint has beenfiled. They have the opportunity to respond. Every-body can have an attorney. All parties can have anattorney present, and the department is required,under title 8, to attempt conciliation throughoutthe process of the investigation. So we will period-ically attempt conciliation, try to resolve the com-plaint. Conciliation is a voluntary process. It doesnot go into the investigation, into our final in-vestigative report, which is the report that's
1 Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Community Forum on Race Relations inWestern Nebraska, Scottsbluff, NE, Apr. 28-29, 1993, p. 203 (hereafter cited as Transcript).
2 42 USC §13601-3619, 3621 (1988).
3 Transcript, pp. 203-12; see also, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Prospects and Impact of Losing State and LocalAgencies from the Federal Fair Housing System, p. 3, September 1992.
4 Ibid., 205.
Ibid., p. 203.
17
prepared at the end of the investigative process. Sowe do the investigation. We attempt to resolve it.If we can't resolve it, and conciliation is voluntaryand the people conciliating all would sign theagreement and then HUD would enforce compli-ance with the agreement.
As far as if the case does not conciliate what hap-pens then? Well, we do either a reason for cause ora no reason for cause determination, and we wouldrepresent the complainant in a reason for causedetermination either before an administrative lawjudge or in Federal district court.6
Ms. Alejos told the Advisory Committeethat from October 1991 to April 1993, HUDhad received 139 complaints of housing dis-crimination throughout the State. Of those, 59were investigated by HUD and 80 were inves-tigated under a work sharing agreement bythe Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commis-sion.7 As an example she said that 66 of thetotal complaints filed were administrative clo-sures. Ms. Alejos explained administrativeclosures as:
a failure to cooperate where the complainantandI'm referring to the complainants that filed theircomplaints, they just lost interest in their case, forwhatever reason, or we were not able to locatethem. They had moved and not notified us of achange of address, or maybe they withdrew theircomplaints. Sometimes, not always do complain-ants withdraw the complaints because they changetheir minds; but also maybe it's because they some-how settled with the respondent and that is whothe complaint is against, the name of the person isthe respondent. And so that way they may justwithdraw for that reason. So it varies for whateverreason they withdrew their complaints.8
6 Ibid., pp. 209-10:
7 Ibid., p. 212.
a Ibid., pp. 214-15.
9 Ibid., p. 216.
10 Ibid., p. 220.
Ibid., pp. 231-32.
18
Ms. Alejos noted that abort 45 cases wereconciliated, meaning that the parties agreedto settle the complaint. She said that in someof the conciliated capes, there may have beena cause finding against the person being com-plained of, but the parties agree to settle thecomplaint.9
One of the overriding concerns expressedby Advisory Committee members dealt withHUD's outreach efforts to provide informationconcerning housing discrimination to personsin western Nebraska. Mr. Levine said thatHUD provides brochures for that purpose.These brochures are made available to com-munity groups, real estate firms, or interestedpersons. These materials are written in En-glish and other languages.° When pressedfurther on HUD's outreach efforts Mr. Levinesaid:
We have not had people from headquarters comeout to the regions to see what the regional concernsare until this Secretary has been appointed and hassent out headquarters staff to eac' of the 10 re-gional offices in the country to get input and feed-back from employees, and it appears like headquar-ters may be more receptive possibly than it hasbeen in the past to suggestions from the regionaloffices. Sometimes what will happen is we willagree with you, you know, ye,s, it's very difficult toget through on this 1-800 number, and it's inade-quate and maybe we need more 1-800 numbers, ormore advertising, advertising on TV, whatever.And we might make that suggestion to headquar-ters, and whether or not they take action on it, youknow, .different reasons, will have different input.And they have to make the call at headquarters asto what they can do wivain the budget. But, youknow, call us collect. Call us direct. However, we'llbe out here after we talk today to take any ques-tions from anyone who would like."
25
Administration of Justice
Reaves Nahwooks, chair of the NebraskaCommission on Indian Affairs, generallyspeaking on the issues of race relations,
said that laws have been designed to makeAmerican Indians conform and accept waysthat are not consistent with their practicesand thinking.' He further related that somany community tensions that his agency hasdealt with resulted from deaths that haveoccurred which caused conflict among Ameri-can Indians and others.2
Mr. Nahwooks is concerned that:
Native American Indian people in Nebraska makeup eight-tenths of a percent of the State's popula-tion, and yet average 4.7 of the State's State prisonadmissions. Of the 56 Native American Indianssent to prison in 1991, 9 or 16 percent came from acounty with only six-tenths of a percent ofNebraska's population, and only 4 percent of theentire Native American Indian population in Ne-braska. The figures demonstrate four to six timesgreater numbers of Native Americans being sent toprison then might naturally occur.3
With those concerns of Mr. Nahwooks andthose expressed to the Advisory Committee asbackground informat'on, persons represent-ing the law enforcement arena were invited toparticipate in the community forum.
Ron Ehlers, the chief of police of Gordon,Nebraska, told the Advisory Committee thathe has five full-time positions for police offi-cers for a city population of 1,803 persons,including 222 American Indians and 40 His-panics. At the present time, the police depart-ment was operating with only four officers,including one American Indian, and reserveofficer.4
In 1992 police officers made 207 arrests,which included 66 white males, 104 AmericanIndian males, 4 Hispanic males, 10 white fe-males, and 23 American Indian females.5 Ofthe 207 arrests made, 156 of these involvedalcohol.6
The chief said:
One of the things that I do notice when we'redealing with the Native American population isthat the biggest share of our complaints come fromthe Native American community, and I would saythat the largemore than 75 percentI do nothave the exact figures, more than 75 percent ofthose calls are involved with alcohol. We work realclose with the NEPSAC, which is Northeast Pan-handle Substance Abuse Counsel, trying to do somediversion activities and get people involved in sit-uations where they can turn themselves aroundand avoid these situations in the future. A lot ofthese situations involve domestic disturbances andthings of that nature?
1 Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Community Forum on Race Relations inWestern Nebraska, Scottsbluff, NE, Apr. 28-29,1993, p. 285 (hereafter cited as Transcript).
Ibid., p. 286.2
3
4
5
6
7
Ibid., pp. 286-87.
Ibid., pp. 310-13.
Ibid., p. 312.
Ibid.
Ibid., 314-15.
2C
19
With respect to his department's relationswith the American Indian community of Gor-don, Chief Ehlers said that sometimes theyare better than others.8 He further stated:
The Indian community in Gordon does not seem tobe very well-organized in having any one or groupof persons that can speak for the Indian communityitself and come and talk to us. We usually deal withthem on a one-to-one basis and, if there's any ques-tions, we'll take the time to talk to them about whatwe can do and what we can't do. They understandsome of our limitations and, for the most part, theofficers get along well with the Indian community.There may be some problems, but usually we tryand iron them out, work them out, talk them out,make them understand why we're doing what we'redoing?9
Chief Ehlers said that if persons want to filecomplaints against the city's police officers,they can do so with the department, city man-ager, the mayor, or with the local humanrights commission.10 He said that over thepast 2 years there have been only about sixcomplaints filed against the police depart-ment. All complaints are investigated and thecomplainants are advised as to what, if any,action is taken against the police officers.11
Ted Vastine, the chief of police of Chadron,said that he has 12 sworn officers to police acity of 6,000. He said that the population is 90percent white and 10 percent of other ori-gin s.12 Overall, Chief Vastine believes that hehas a good relationship with the AmericanIndian residents. He said:
8 Ibid., p. 319.
9 Ibid., pp. 320-21.
10 Ibid., p. 332.
11 Ibid., pp. 329-30.
12 Ibid., pp. 337-38.
13 Ibid., pp. 345-48.
14 Ibid., pp. 339-40.
20
I feel that it's good myself, and I try to instill in myofficers that we treat everybody the same. We treatthem as human beings. We treat everybodyequally. We treat people the way we want to betreated in like circumstances. And, over the years,I've had several Native Americans come in and visitwith me about perception problems, things likethat. Nothing that they really want to make aformal complaint on, just wondering why this hap-pened, or why that happened. I try to sit down andtalk with them on that myself, plus there's thishuman relations council that we've established isanother place that they can air things out. I feel it'sgood. If it's not, and there's some problem, I'd beglad to sit down and talk with anybody and air outwhatever they feel isn't well within the police com-munity.13
With respect to citizen complaints of policeabuse, Chief Vastine said:
People can make complaints to myself'. I will havemy administrative assistant or my lieutenant dothe investigation. Since I have to make the deci-sion, I don't do the investigation. Whatever I rec-ommend, whatever comes down has to go to theCivil Service Board and they review that. We havea human relations council that meets once a month,so complaints could be aired there. They can go toany member of the city council. They can go to thecity attorney. They can go to the county attorney,so they don't really necessarily have to comethrough the police department. And the commu-nity being small enough, if you've got an officerthat's way out of line, it doesn't take too long forsomebody to really let you know about it, that youhave an individual Rambo-type style, if you wantto refer to it that way. We try to work closely."
2r
The Advisory Committee, however, raiseda concern that some American Indians believethat the Chadron Police Department targetsthem in terms of driving under the influenceof alcohol. Chief Vastine said, "I don't know ofwhat you're saying of any officer that's target-ing any individual. We may get one DWI ar-rest, one or two a month."15 He further relatedthat he does not allow his police officers tostake out bars to arrest persons for DWI.16
The Advisory Committee also expressedconcern that there have been allegations thatsome American Indians were harassed by thepolice in the local homeless shelters and thatAmerican Indian children were being threat-ened with guns by police because these chil-dren were on the street at dusk or dawn. ChiefVastine said that there may have been com-plaints due to a person's length of stay at theshelter, but that should be resolved when an-other agency takes over the management ofthe shelter. With respect to children beingthreatened, he said that he did not think hisofficers were involved in such incidents.17
Robert E. Jatczak, chief of the Alliance Po-lice Department, appeared before the Advi-sory Committee. He said that the city has apopulation of 9,765 of whom 5 percent are
15 Ibid., p. 351.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., pp. 356-57.
18 Ibid., p. 360.
19 Ibid., pp. 360, 368.
20 Ibid., p. 371.
21 Ibid., p. 366.
22 Ibid., p. 367.
23 Ibid., p. 369.
24 Ibid., p. 372.
Hispanic, and 3 percent are American Indi-ans.18 The city is policed by a department of20 officers, including 2 females. All the officersare white.18
In 1992 the department made 1,043 non-traffic arrests, of which 638 were whites, 270American Indians, 103 Hispanics, 29 blacks,and 3 Asian Americans." Chief Jatczak saidthat in 1992 the department received severalwritten complaints against the departmentfrom the American Indian community. As aresult of the complaints, representatives ofthe American Indian community met with thecity manager, the chief of police, and some citycouncilpersons.21 During the course of themeeting it was suggested that the police de-partment conduct more training for its offi-cers. Several outside persons were brought inby the department to provide racial diversitytraining."
The American Indian community also sug-gested that the department increase its effortsto hire more minorities. Chief Jatczak saidthat his attempts to hire American Indianswere unsuccessful,' but he will continue towork with the community in his attempt tohire an American Indian police officer.24
2
21
Sunimary
T ike any area of the United States, racelirelations in western Nebraska can be im-
proved. As noted by some speakers at theAdvisory Committee forum, some steps arebeing taken by various agencies to be moresensitive to issues regarding race. By thesame token, there is the perception by somethat race relations are not good.
Cecilia. Huerta, the acting director of theNebraska Mexican American Commission,noted that housing discrimination was theagency's number one priority. She indicatedan interest in having her agency open an officein western Nebraska to represent the peopleof the area.
Reaves Nahwooks, chair of the NebraskaCommission on Indian Affairs said that todeal with race relations, his agency has devel-oped a 5-year plan to include health problems,education, employment, Indian civil andhuman rights, economic development, and thestructure of his agency is the agency's numberone priority. In an attempt to deal with hous-ing discrimination and other civil rights con-cerns, Mr. Nahwooks noted that the agencyshould have an office in western Nebraska toprovide information and advocacy services.
Some participants discussed the high drop-out rate of students in public schools and thelack of minority teachers. One participant pro-posed the creation of a task force of businessand civic leaders and educators to develop aplan to counter the high dropout rate.
Educators discussed programs that havebeen implemented to be more responsive tominority students. These include hiring ofAmerican Indian home-school liaison persons.Raymond Gonzalez of Scottsbluff was con-cerned about the dropout rate for Hispanics inpublic schools and the lack of Hispanic in-structors in public schools in Scottsbluff. Hesaid that the Hispanic community must do itspart to ensure that children attend schools.Mr. Gonzalez also proposed the creation of atask force to come up with a solution to reduce
22
the dropout rate. With respect to the shortageof Hispanic teachers, Mr. Gonzalez recom-mended the creation of scholarships for localHispanics who are interested in teaching sothat they would come back to the communityto be involved in the education system.
Steve Sexton, superintendent of the Chad-ron School District, described his efforts tobetter race relations. He indicated that anAmerican Indian home-school liaison personwas hired to increase contacts with parents.
Representatives of the Scottsbluff PublicSchools spoke of cultural and transitional lan-guage classes. They also reported that Amer-ican Indian students within the school districthave shared their life experiences with stu-dents of a school district that did not haveAmerican Indian students.
Jim Hunter, vice president for Student Ser-vices, Western Nebraska Community College,spoke of the school's work with a HispanicAdvisory Committee to infuse cultural activi-ties into the college's course offerings. He alsopointed out that the college was in the processof forming an American Indian advisory com-mittee to identify barriers to recruiting andretaining American Indian students.
Representatives of the U.S. Department ofHousing and Urban Development providedinformation on filing housing discriminationcomplaints. The Advisory Committee haslisted in appendix C agencies to contact to filevarious discrimination complaints.
In the area of administration of justice,representatives of various police departmentsin western Nebraska discussed procedures forfiling complaints of alleged police abuse.
All in all, the Advisory Committee hopesthat race relations will continue to improve inwestern Nebraska. The Advisory Committeebelieves that continued dialogue on race rela-tions is the key to progress. The AdvisoryCommittee will continue to monitor the prog-ress or the lack thereof.
Appendix A
WESTERN NEBRASKA LEGAL SERVICES, INC.
CENTRAL REGIONAL OFFICE106 S. JEFFERS
NORTH PLATTE. NEBRASKA 69101(306)6344357
Nebraska Wets 1400-662.2907
Roply to Scottsbluff
SorvIalosLegalos Wawoklyo"----
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICESWESTERN REGIONAL OFFICE
NINE EAST 15TH STREET. BOX 1365SCOTTSBLUFF, NEBRASKA 69361
1308) 632-4734
Nebraska Wats 1-800482-5113
July 22, 1992
EASTERN REGIONAL OFFICE207 WEST 3RD, A.O. BOX 1078
GRAND ISLAND. NEBRASKA 68801(306) 381-0517
Nebraska Wets 1-800-652.9800
A United Way Recipient
To Whom it May Concern:
Our group stands committed to resolve the existing problems of this
community. We will work to persuade elected officials to improveexisting laws and to see that any new laws consider the needs of our
community.
As a result of the injustices and unfair treatment of Indian people
by the City of Alliance, Box Butte County, Nebraska, we are forced tofile a list of complaints with the powers that control the Alliance
Police Department.
The following summary of statements of complaints have been taken
from the complaints of this community:
1. Police acting in a threatening manner when there is noevidence of wrong-doing, non-investigation of rumors;
2. No police reports filed at the time of incidents;
3. Unprofessional coruct of Police Officers;
4. Selective enforcement;
5. Lack of interest on response time when called;
6. Police don't run police check on non-Indian when involved atcrime scene;
7. Why is 5gt. Rae Ann Christensen so interested in young Indianpeople;
8. Refusal to take Indian complaints;
9. Harassment of Police Officers;
10. Unprofessional conduct;
11. No response to Indian complaints;
J2. , Unlawful use of force;
13. Police brutality;
3G23
24
Letter of Concern
Page 2 of 2
14. Unlawful arrest;
15. Discrimination of Indian people;
16. Unfair treatment;
17. Failure to render aid to injured person;
18. Unlawful entry of Indian person's property; and
19. No search warrant.
We respectively request that these complaints be investigated andresolved; and that a formal report be made to the Alliance City Counsel,City Manager, and to the appointed representative of the IndianCommunity, Connie Stairs of Alliance, NE.
Signed:
tdrilEI'VAh"-) (4711-2ri
Art'DATESTEVE J 'ATE
TH
E A
LLIA
NC
E
TIM
ES-
HE
RA
LV
OL
. 106
, NO
. 34
AL
LIA
NC
E, N
EB
RA
SKA
FRID
AY
, JU
LY
10,
1992
TH
IRT
Y-F
IVE
CE
NT
S
Pl3
tive
Am
eric
ans
Pro
test
Alli
ance
Pol
ice
Act
ion:
Cou
ncil
Aut
horiz
es S
ales
Tax
Exp
endi
ture
By
TO
M H
UD
DL
ESO
NT
imex
-Har
ald
Man
agin
g E
dito
r
AL
LIA
NC
EO
ver
sixt
y pe
ople
atte
nded
the
the
Alli
ance
City
Cou
n-ci
l mee
ting
Thu
rsda
y ev
enin
g, o
ver-
flow
ing
from
cou
ncil
cnam
bers
into
the
hall
and
nece
ssita
ting
that
som
evi
ew th
e pr
ocee
ding
s on
tele
visi
on in
the
conf
eren
ce r
oom
.O
ver
half
thos
e pr
esen
t wer
e pa
rtof
a d
eleg
atio
n of
Nat
ive
Am
eric
ans
led
Con
nie
Stai
rs, o
n ha
nd to
pro
.te
s.-t
at th
ey a
llege
is s
yste
mat
icha
rass
men
t of
Indi
ans
by th
e A
llian
cePo
lice
Dep
artm
ent.
Ms.
Sta
irs
char
ged
that
"It
's a
l-w
ays
the
Indi
ans
that
are
arr
este
d,"
alle
ging
that
whi
tes
and
Nat
ive
Am
eri-
cans
are
trea
ted
by d
iffe
rent
sta
ndar
dsfo
r th
e sa
me
offe
nses
.Sh
e to
ld th
e co
unci
l tha
t Ind
ians
have
bee
n re
cogn
ized
by
the
Supr
eme
Cow
l as
U.S
. citi
zens
sin
ce 1
952,
and
that
the
Indi
an c
omm
unity
rif
Alli
ance
is n
ot o
nly
a co
mm
unity
, but
con
sid-
ers
itsel
f pa
rt o
f th
e la
rger
com
mun
ityan
d ex
pect
s eq
ual t
reat
men
t.M
s. S
tair
s al
so n
oted
that
som
e of
the
Indi
an f
amili
es in
tow
n ha
ve lo
ng-
stan
ding
feu
ds, a
nd s
he c
harg
ed th
atso
me
of th
e ne
wer
Alli
ance
pol
ice
offi
cers
app
ear
to h
ave
take
n si
des
inth
ese. Sh
e sa
id th
is is
a v
ery
dang
erou
ssi
tuat
ion
and
thos
e pr
esen
t in
ha d
ele-
gatio
n di
dn't
wan
t to
com
e to
the
coun
cil,
but t
hey
felt
it w
as n
eces
sary
to s
how
that
they
wer
e se
riou
s, th
at
they
wan
ted
som
ethi
ng d
one
befo
rdso
meo
ne b
ecom
es b
adly
but
"We
are
mem
bers
of
this
com
mu-
nity
," M
s. S
tair
s sa
id, a
.klin
that
the
grou
p di
dn'tv
antto
go to
then
torn
eyge
nera
rsol
liceo
rthe
U.S
.CK
Rith
isC
omm
issi
on w
ith it
s co
mpl
aint
s."W
e w
ant t
o ge
t som
ethi
ng d
one
thro
ugh
you,
" sh
e to
ld th
e co
unci
l.Sh
e al
so p
rese
nted
a s
heaf
of
wha
tsh
e sa
id w
as d
ocum
enta
tion
of p
olic
eha
rass
men
tT
he d
eleg
atio
n sa
t in
atte
ntiv
e si
-le
nce
thro
ugho
ut M
s. S
tair
's p
rese
n-ta
tion
and
May
or E
va K
nigh
t's r
e-
The
may
orm
ayor
gra
ciou
sly
wel
com
edth
e gr
oup,
not
ing
how
dif
ficu
lt it
Is f
orm
any
citiz
ens
to v
oice
thei
r op
inio
nsin
the
form
al c
ounc
il se
tting
.
"I s
alut
e yo
u fo
r be
ing
here
," s
hesa
id. Mrs
. Kni
ght a
dded
that
the
publ
icha
s a
mis
perc
eptio
n th
at th
e po
lice
depa
rtm
ent i
s di
rect
ly r
espo
nsib
le to
the
city
cou
ncil,
whe
n in
fac
t it i
sre
spon
sibl
e to
the
city
's C
ivil
Serv
ice
Com
mis
sion
.
Arr
ange
men
ts w
ere
mad
e at
this
time
for
Ms.
Sta
irs
to p
rese
nt h
erco
mpl
aint
s an
d ev
iden
ce to
City
Man
ager
Lyl
e L
acy
and
City
Atto
r-ne
y L
eo D
obto
voln
y an
d be
gin
the
form
al C
ivil
Serv
ice
Com
mis
sion
hear
ing
proc
ess.
The
del
egat
ion
left
with
ass
uran
ces
from
the
may
or th
at th
e co
mpl
aint
sw
ould
rec
eive
ser
ious
and
fai
r co
nsid
-er
atio
n.
3B
ES
T C
OP
Y A
VA
ILA
BLE
App
ropr
iate
s S
ales
Tt
Fun
dsT
he c
ounc
il ap
prov
ed, 5
.0, t
hepr
over
554
0,00
0 fr
om th
e D
ebt R
.Fu
nd (
City
Sal
es T
ax)
to c
over
budg
eted
exp
ense
s as
soci
ated
rsp
ecif
icat
ion
chan
ges
man
date
dth
e N
ebra
ska
Solid
Was
te A
ct a
ndU
.S. E
nvir
onm
enta
l Pro
tect
Age
ncy
in c
onne
ctio
n w
ith th
ela
ndfil
l.T
his
carn
e ab
out u
nder
the
of th
e fi
rst r
eadi
ng o
f R
esol
uuun
45, a
war
ding
the
old
land
fill
c/o:
and
the
open
ing
of th
e fi
rst c
ell o
fne
w o
ne to
lam
es E
. Sim
on o
f N
IPl
atte
in th
e am
ount
of
S1,5
42,7
29O
ther
bid
ders
wer
e H
erbe
rt C
stru
ctic
in o
f A
ntri
m, S
1,85
4.50
7,St
rong
Con
stru
ctio
n of
Sot
tshl
51,9
97.9
20.4
0.T
he lo
w a
ccep
ted
bid
wa
sore
ra
mill
ion
high
er th
an th
e °r
igen
gine
er's
est
imat
e, o
win
g to
nst
ring
ent r
equi
rem
ents
mai
nly
Lem
ing
how
muc
h im
perm
eabl
eha
s to
be
used
in c
appi
ng th
ela
ndfi
ll to
ens
ure
agai
nst g
roun
d %
%co
ntam
inat
ion.
The
city
man
ager
had
pre
pare
dse
para
te f
inan
cing
app
roac
hes
to
CD CO
33
26
etpoci-"I'
Mr-Herald, Saturday, July 11, l55 -11A
REGION
Alliance Indians presscharges against police
. .anesent that kr Aillanea's dty laity to prepare an iiiifitional
By MARY MUM .-manager form ofgovernment; the amendment to the budget before
Regional Correspondent . council has no jurisdiction over itsthird reading July 30 to call for
the police' department She cell- the fauna of warrants to supply
ALLIANCE --.... The Alliance rred the =Plaint to the .Ctvil additional funding thr the city's
Native American communitythecommission, represented sin mintooloodall project.
ThpackedursdalCitoti preeCmcileat cliargesthambersof .-1,:geristr97.dfle LIVedbYatrCtrAttoreliaa-erlaltellislaggestcnolledlon4prostelfrsedthe
harassment against the Alliance Leo Dobrovobry. ..Police Department **Stairs told the -Star-Herald eluinglendfill dtheconstructiVetts ar of ee:
Connie Stairs, a member of the Friday that she he made an sp- eie.aere disposal ad, u well asboard for the American .Indian *infarct to meet with Lag sad pram et some wag equip.Council, presented a book of 40written 'complaints to- the; City DannYcatY ThnradaY to annual ment However: additional Ell'
coma. Stairs raid arefors di noloPlainit Alliance Pollen .* vironmental Protection Agency
:net rhfatnak b,adbutn° el,' :requirementto
haveciaddedpreproject.
,
include that police have IdclW charges sat bedown doors without warrants, would review the compiairdemith
the CM Service Commission.'The council asked that finding
made arrests without evidenceand took sides in Indian family In other -icon. the council kw the $540,003 overrun on the
conflicts. ... proved emeedmeou to the city. -landfill improvements come from :
Stairs said she had spoken to budget on second raiding, shay- thecity's
debt service thnd. whichthe chief of police and the county ing sn additional $3,300 trom a. II underwritten by a 1 percentattorney, but received no saris- penditures. The council approved et° sales tan' rather than I°.
diction. increases to support the Box crease collection rates againso
"Something must be done be- Butte Development Center, Al- am'fore someone gets hurt," Stairs rianee clean community 'system, The council awarded the bid for
said. Retired Senior Volunteer Pre- the landfill improvements to
About 83 people, bait of whom pain, softball field improve- James Simon of North Platte dr
were Native Americans, attended meat. city salaries and vehicle $1,542,721 Lacy described the new
the meeting fleets. landfill a: "absolute current state
Mayor Eva Knight said she had They also voted reductions to of the art," while the mayor
not seen the list of complaints, police vehicle requests, golf called the collection system
but she was aware of a problem course equipment and an oper, "wonderfully efficient, but not
between the police department sting fund transfer to the street ver9 accountable
and the Indian community. Sind. She urged citizens to reduce,
Knight told Stairs and those The council also instructed reuse and recycle.
3 4
TH
E A
LLIA
NC
E
TIM
ES-
. HE
RA
LD
. Rod.T
HIR
TY
-FIV
E C
EN
TS
The
n Il
scyc
leV
OL
. 106
, NO
. 48
ALL
IAN
CE
. NE
BR
AS
KA
MO
ND
AY
, JU
LY 2
7,19
92
Vat
ive
Am
eric
ans
Unh
appy
With
Inve
stig
atio
iB
y T
OM
RU
DD
LE
SON
Tim
es-i
lent
id A
tam
est &
lbw
AL
LIA
NC
E A
del
egat
ion
from
Alli
ance
's N
ativ
e A
mer
ican
com
mu-
nity
, led
by
Con
nie
Stai
n, c
ame
away
from
a M
onda
y m
omin
g m
eetin
g w
ithC
ity M
anag
er L
yle
Lac
y un
happ
y w
ithhi
s in
vest
igat
ion
of th
eir
com
plai
nts
agai
nst t
he A
llian
ce P
olic
e D
epar
t-m
ent a
nd v
owin
g to
see
k le
gal r
e-co
urse
in a
dif
fere
nt v
enue
.'T
o ge
t som
ethi
ng d
one,
we
need
to g
o ou
t of
tow
n,"
Mrs
. Sta
in s
aid,
addi
ng th
at s
he b
elie
ved
the
grou
p's
lay
wou
ld b
e co
ntac
ting
the
Ne.
...a
Atto
rney
Gen
eral
's o
ffic
e,L
acy
had
been
inve
stig
atin
g co
m-
plai
nts
rust
bro
ught
by
a la
rge
grou
pof
Nat
ive
Am
eric
ans
to th
e I u
ly 9
city
coun
cil m
eetin
g.A
t tha
t tim
e, c
harg
es w
ere
mad
eth
at th
e A
llian
ce P
olic
e D
epar
tmen
tsy
stem
atic
ally
har
asse
d In
dian
s, a
r-re
sted
Ind
ians
and
allo
wed
whi
tes
togo
fre
e w
hen
they
wer
e In
volv
ed I
nlig
hts,
bro
ke d
own
door
s w
ithou
t
war
rant
s an
d w
ire
gene
rally
pre
ju-
dice
d to
war
d In
dian
s.A
t tw
o su
bseq
uent
mee
tings
In
whi
ch L
acy
met
with
Mrs
. Sta
irs
and
c sm
alle
r gr
oup
of I
ndia
ns, L
acy
was
aske
d to
foc
us h
is in
vest
igat
ion
whi
ch w
as to
dec
ide
if th
e ch
arge
sm
erite
d a
full,
for
mal
hea
ring
of
the
Alli
ance
Civ
il Se
rvic
e C
omm
issi
onto
dis
cipl
ine
an o
ffic
er o
r of
fice
rson
the
rela
tions
hip
betw
een
one
offi
-ce
r an
d th
e Sh
elle
y Pi
cket
Pin
flin
tily.
The
off
icer
in q
uest
ion
was
Sgt
.R
ae A
nn C
hris
tens
en, w
hom
the g
roup
char
ged
with
usi
ng h
er p
ositi
on a
s a
polic
e of
fice
r to
inte
rfer
e w
ith a
ndha
rass
the
Pick
et P
in f
amily
.M
onda
y m
orni
ng L
acy
issu
ed a
five
-pag
e "m
emor
andu
m o
f fi
ndin
g,"
base
d on
app
roxi
mat
ely
seve
n ho
urs
of ta
ped
inte
rvie
ws
with
She
lley
Pick
etPi
n, S
gt. C
hris
tens
en, C
hris
Ann
ePi
cket
Pin
, 20,
and
Gre
g Pi
cket
Pin
,15
. The
rep
ort d
etai
led
a fo
rmer
ly c
lose
rela
tions
hip
betw
een
the
Pick
et P
inan
d C
hris
tens
en f
amili
es w
hich
has
For
mer
Alli
ance
Res
iden
tK
ills
Wife
, Tur
ns G
unO
n S
elf
SCO
ITSB
LU
FF,N
eb.(
AP)
A C
ount
y Sh
erif
f's d
eput
ies
and
mnn
eilf
+t h
ue f
a lo
!in
N.,
.1,..
11rt
t,to
rs
3r_
appa
rent
ly r
ecen
tly g
one
sow
.A
ccor
ding
tet L
acy'
* re
port
, Chr
isA
nne
Pick
et P
in a
nd h
er d
augh
ter.
Ash
ley,
res
ided
in th
e C
hris
tens
enho
me
for
abou
t thr
ee I
nced
ts.
Gre
g Pi
cket
Pin
was
als
o a
fre-
quen
t vis
itor
ther
e, r
egul
arly
took
mea
ls th
ere
and
so n
etim
e:4
stay
edov
erni
ght.
Mrs
. Pic
ket P
in a
t one
tim
e ha
d a
clos
e re
latio
nshi
p w
ith S
gt. C
hris
-te
nsen
, hav
ing
a ke
y to
her
hou
se.
borr
owin
g m
oney
fro
m h
er a
nd u
sing
her
phon
e to
rec
eive
col
lect
pho
ne'c
alls
fro
m a
noth
er s
on. D
a vi
& w
ho
BE
ST C
OPY
AV
AIL
AB
LE
was
in p
riso
n.L
acy'
s re
port
not
es, '
The
re is
an
appa
rent
out
stan
ding
pho
ne b
ill o
wed
by S
helle
y to
Chr
iste
nsen
in th
eam
ount
of
$150
. At t
his
poin
t in
time
that
deb
t may
be
a so
urce
of
disa
gree
-m
ent b
etw
een
the
two.
"T
he r
epor
t goe
s on
to s
ay, '
Tw
oev
ents
occ
urre
d in
Apr
il 19
92 th
atap
pear
to b
e in
stru
men
tal a
s a
brea
k-w
ater
inth
e re
latio
nshi
p be
twee
n th
efa
mili
es. O
ne w
as a
n ac
t of
vand
alis
mby
Gre
g in
volv
ing
a dr
a sl
ashi
ng o
nA
pril
3.T
he s
econ
d oc
curr
ed a
wee
kW
ee o
n Fr
iday
. Apr
il 10
, whe
n O
reg,
follo
win
g an
arg
umen
t with
I
mot
her,
file
d a
polic
e co
mpl
aag
ains
t her
for
abu
se. T
he w
eeke
ndth
e co
mpl
aint
for
abu
se, G
reg
vas
sign
ed b
y th
e co
urt r
epre
sent
atto
the
Chr
iste
nsen
hom
e fo
r te
ml
racy
cus
tody
. On
the
follo
win
g M
(da
y, S
helle
y Pi
cket
Pin
pro
test
ed'a
ssig
nmen
t to
Soci
al S
ervi
ces
are
gist
ered
a c
ompW
nt w
ith th
e Po
lC
hief
reg
ardi
ng C
hris
tens
en's
crta
ct w
ith h
er f
amily
...."
The
rep
ort f
urth
er n
otes
that
"II
(Con
tinue
d on
pag
e 10
)
Native Arrericans(Continued from page 1)
peripherally related matter..." ChrisAnne Picket Pin had requested assis-tance from the Alliance Police De-partment regarding a tercristk threatand witness tampering complaintagainst Schuyler Dawn.
Dawn has been present as a mem-her of the Native American delega-tion at all three meetings with Lacy.
Lacy's report is slightly critical ofOfficer Christensen in only one as-pect: "One of Shelley Picket Pin'sspecific complaints was that Chris-tensen had purchased tobacco prod-ucts for Greg who is a minor. BothGreg Picket Pin and Christensenconfirmed that this was true.Christensen's explanation was thatGreg had been smoking since he wasapproximately Wall years old andthat she believed if she did not providehim tobacco products he would se-cure them elsewhere, specifically 'onthe streets,' and would continue to beinvolved in the trouble he had previ-ously experienced. Christensen ad-mined that the decision was poorjudgement but believes it was, fromher perspective, the lesser of twoevils."
Lacy's report concluded with asection entitled "Findings" and an-other entitled "Recommended FutureActions."
The "Findings" states that Sgt.Christensen was motivated by com-passion and caring, and her Involve-ment in this regard was not in hercapacity as an Alliance Police Officerbut as a well meaning friend, neighbor
hatr44 TiEtiatt m-itetatimwozawv
28
and second family for Greg."Lacy's report recommends that a
neutral third party mediate betweenthe Picket P and Christensen familes to"work through those disapee-ments aid resort some degree ofmutual trust. However, it is believedshat no reconciliation will or shouldpermit a return to the circumstances//here Greg spent a good portion ofhis time in the Christensen home."
The report concluded. "A numberof other complaints presented to boththe City Council, at the July 9th meet- .
ing, and in struemaits presented to dreCity Manager warrant full review andinvesdptica and, if founded, appro-prim action. That investigation is ;currently underway."
In the repot and verbally at theMaeda), meeting. Lacy informed thedelegation that an appeal to the fullCivil Sulfite Commission was thenext step if the delegation wanted to
Hesugg thosecomplaintsbe made as specific as possible and ;'bathe group use theservices of Steve tJanis, a Native American paralegalwith Western Nebraska Legal Serv-t-iices.
The meeting Monday was chase- 1wised mostly by stony silence, as the'Native American delegation read 'Lacy's report and that sat withoutsaYint anrhinfr
Mrs. Stairs did the very little talk-ing that was done by the Indians at the
mSitti ng.
cordially and graciouslythanked Lacy for his time and effort,but said the never expected him to befair.
"You are close to your peoplehere..." she said, "...we knew you'dback her up..."
She added that she did not thinkLacy should continue his investiga-don of the dozen or so other corn- tiplaints against the Alliance Police t;Department because she expected theresults would be the sane.
Mrs. Stairs also said that her grouphad been frustrated in trying to file acontributhg to the delinquency of aminor complaint against Sgt. Chris-tensen with the county attorney forbuying tobacco for Greg Picket Pin.
She told the city manager that sheintended to have an outside agencyinvestigate the Native Americans'complaints.
-Nebraskai istoJuly 27
1877 -Custer County was organ-
oofi MI le RI.The NYSE's commit* Wax a at la howl
<worm stocks toss M Ice 2213.71. At e*Arnariesn Stodc Exchavo, to market velaIntan au down 34 at *Lit
Warne on the Big Bawd our. io 77.SAtram shams at own. aoarat 7554 maw attoo woe oont Fader
3 7
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
1111717M
Appendix C
MU 1 t I cu 1 tura"' Curx, I cu 1 um
Chadron School District has identifiedmulticultural education as a district-wide outcomefor outcome-based accreditation. In developingcurriculum scope: concepts: and materials: a surveyof existing applicable eleMents was completed atall grade levels, and within all subject areas.The summary materials from that survey areattached.
3c
29
CHADRON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
3C30
4
GRADE
KINDER-
GARTEN
Ssyer
Clark
AFRICAN AMERICAN
HISFAUtG AMERICAN
M.L. King books Weekly
Resdet discussion
S.I. :Washington
/pictures, stories,
Weekly Reader
Weekly Reader
NATIVE AMERICAN
ASIAN AMERI'
e.g.
MU
SIC
Mexico Unit- -
tapes, films, books,
prints, music,
seasonal
Amigos- -food
Corduroy
Unitfilm, study paper,
books, speakers, food
Speakers
Eskimo Unit
Indian Unit--Thanksgiving
Songs
Dances
FIRST
Gilman
Gramberg
Norse
Zahn'
Clausen
M.L. King looks
African American Rooks- -
video, Basal
G.W. C
- -book,
literature, tradebook
Tubman
Weekly Reader
Jimmy Lee - -Basal pg.150
Trade books
Literature
Foods
books- -trade
Thanksgiving Dinner
Speakers
SECOND
Dierksen
Schumacher
Chaney
Dagen
BasalGloria. pg. 58
jmitge, p8.129
Jamestownbooks, film
strip
M.L. King Book- -work-
sheet, discussion
Choral reading
Weekly Reader
News, looks
Week/4 Reader
BasalJosephint, pg.3j
S:S. Text
Speelter
Jamestown -- books, film-
strip
Weekly Reader
Unit - -Sioux Art
looks
Theme Unit--Scholastic
BE
ST C
OPY
AV
AIL
AR
E
Unit -- Japan. Hawaii
!looks
Chinese New Year
Songs
Dances
Weakly Reader
Basalal Mat, ps.198
looks
41
Songs
Dances
GRADE
THIRD
Reynolds
Stepson
Moody
Nikolas
FOURTH
Ftorke
Fiercy
Schmidt
Brooks
LIBRARY
4 2
AFRICAN AMERICAN
HISPANIC AMERICAN
NATIVE AMERICAN
ASIAN AMERIC
P.E.
Basal--Patchwork, pg.42
Basel--Horse, pg.154
Keepers of the Earth
Origami
Guest Speaker
Basal -- Origami, pg.I10
Mufaro, pg.173
Cinco de Mayo
Books
Speakers
Books
Weekly Reader
Library Unit
M.L. King
Books
Weekly Reader
Book Unit
Arts, Music
Yeh Shen. PR.141
Haiku
S.S.--China
Book--Sadako Crane
Basal--M. Anderson, pg)62
BasalClements
Grandparent Daystudy
basal --Estof 3 Year 11,
Justin, pg.441
Unit -- Christmas Around
legends, grandparents,
pg.131
They Lead the Wily--women
the World; La Placed.,
display heritage items
Christmas Around the World
M.L. King--play
71-1Walriood, tasting,
VideoBenny'. Flag,
Story--Year of Boar and
Posters
map, flags); week unit
Alaska
Jackie Robinson
Biographies
Mexican Independence Day
Books
Chinese
Year
Unit--King; books, play,
poetry, week unit
Cinco de Mayo
Nebraska Days
8 week Unit
Plains Indians and legends
Writing styles- -haiku
Origami
Weekly Reader
Food from geographicel are
Books
What's in the News--t.v.
Nebraska Day
Writing
Ditto sheets
Maps, artwork
Food
Nebraska Day
Speakers
Folk Tales
Posters, Xerox materials
Ast
rono
my
Trickster Tales -- all
Trickster Tales -- all
Trickster Tales -- all
Trickster Tales -- all
BE
ST
CO
PY
AV
AIL
AB
LE
MUSIC
A
Songs
Dances
Songs
Dances
Zen C
Weavi
Sand
43
CHADRON MIDDLE SCHOOL
33
:* E. 7 1--a-..t
c.../.44...) r 71-4/
:11.101-CULTURAL INFO
Special Ed:Program on how it feels.to be Lb. CroppDiscuss negatives used ire. our:everyday language.Discuss Indian Holiday's brid-CUstorns as they come up on the calendar.DitcuSs ethnic holidayt as they appear on the calendar.Encourage those of ethnic bickgrounds to share their customs and
culture with the class.
5th Grade:Weekly Reader:The Weekly Reader current events articles often involve multi-cultural awareness and the needs of disabled individuals. In thefifth grade classrooms. we teach one_period a week with the WeeklyReader in either of the subject areas of Science or Social Studies.
Reading:Novels read by the class, House of Dies Drear,, and Roll of Thunder.Hear My Cry, are both stories of black families. They deal withprejudice, segregation, etc. These are discussed in class and arerelated to our minorities in our area and their/our problems withdiscrimination, prejudice, etc.
Books read to the class:Number the Stars about Jews in DenmarkThe Star Fisher Chinese AmericanUnderground Railroad black family noving to Ohio
Language Arts:Native American points of view are discussed as they relate to ourreading and writing of fables, f olklore,etc. Nancy Swiftbird readsand discusses z book, Who Speaks for Wolf, with the class.
Music:Jazz Unit Black American contributions.Negro SpIrituals.
34 4'5
--------
Science:Voyage of the Mimi:The Science 9 Week unit Voyage of the Mini introduces the students
to a crew of seven; one is old, one is young, one is black, one is
Spanish and one is deaf. The students are introduced to sign
language, observe a deaf crew member communicate.With other crew
members; and we visit Gallaudet College,'a liberal arts college for
the deaf, by video.
Heal theChapter 1 of the text covers different races and prejudice.Follow My Leader a blind boy with a seeing.eye dog story.
Social Studies:Unit One deals with American people.Unit Two deals with early explorers, Chinese,Viking, P.ortuguese,
Spanish,.and the Indian tribes in North and South America.
Unit Three and Four Deal with other explorers English, French, Dutch,
and the American Indian.
6th Grade:
Reading:The Read Magazine which is read each week often deals with multi-cultural issues.
Literature:Uses books such as;A Wrinkle in Time emphasizes relations with people who are
"different."Cooperative learning promotes working together regardless of
culture.Discussions stress tolerance, understanding & acceptance of all
cultures.
Social Studies:Constant comparison of the different cultures.we are studying to our
culture arid the ones we've already studied.Most of the units cover the contenents and the people that live there.
4t35
Home Econorrsics:I. Personal Development Unit- individual family heritage.2. Child Development Unit- special needs or disabilities of children
you may babysit for.3. Aids Unit.* Access to a handicap kitchen lab unit
Math:Cooperative learning promotes goad relationships betweenstudents of different cultures.
Science:We incorporate how various-cultures viewed the world and hoWdifferent areas are dealing with the earth's enviornmental problems.
7th Grade:Geography:Each unit deals with a culture other Shan the U.S. covering a widerange of divergent cultures = especially, but not exclusively, those ofthe 3rd world, urban vs. rural, western & eastern etc.Every unit covers a range of cultures.
36
Computers:In computers we discuss using computers to help people withdisabilities. We talk about using computers for communication. Howblind people use computers is discussed. Also we talk about roboticsend disabilities.
English Reading:The students read a variety of multi - cultural novels:About the Bnai Bagels (Jewish)Outsiders (eastern U.S. ganglife)Pigman (N.Y. - probably mentally handicapped man)Number the Stars (Denmark during Nazi occupation)Shiloh (Virginia back - country story)Canyons (New Mexico & Native American Cultures today & in the 19c.The students often read novels that depict people with special needs
4
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
& with a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Math:Maya Math deals with base 20 used by the Maya people.
Science:We cover a 9 week Program Voyage of the Mimi II, in which thestudents are introduced to a black and a Meitigan scientist. They arealso made aware of disabilities with the scuba diver who lost a legto cancer and she shows the students how to put the artificial leg on.The text also introduces in each chapter a new career in which avariety of cultures are represented.We also discuss many famous scientist that are from a variety ofcultures.
Home Economics:I. Food and Nutrition Unit- Italian foods.* Access to a handicap kitchen lab unit
8th Grade:American History:The incorporation of various cultures is brought about through thestudy of each period of U.S. history. Notable individuals arediscussed as they fit into a particular period. The course looks atAmerica as being a diverse country which has gone through changes,
both good bad, with regards to different groups of people. There isa focus on the strength of this country coming from this diversity.There is no "minority group of the week" approach which is a veryinsensitive way of dealing with this topic.
Spanish:Promotes understanding of Hispanic Culture. Also deals withappreciation of citizens of all cultures by emphasizing theimportance of language and social values of different countries.
Home Economics:1. Family Relationship Unit- individual family heritage
4E37
- special needs or disabilities of family members tit how thateffects the family as a whole.
2. Food and Nutrition Unit- Interdisciplinary unit with Mrs. Graywhich
includes preparing tacos from a Spanish recipe.* Access to a handicap kitchen lab unit
Science:In Earth Science we discuss where it is pertinent how the use ofvarious earth materiels are or have been used by other cui-Lures.We incorporate how various processes on Earth have affected areasof the world and played a role in the culture of an area.
Health:Mental HealthTeenageTobaccoAlcoholDrugs
38
4J
CHADRON HIGH SCHOOL
5039
MULTI-CULTICAL AWAAENESS
CHADRON HIGH sm.
DEVELOP
KNOWLEDGE
CF CU-1M.
GROUPS
PROUTE
RECOGNITICN
CF'CLLTURAL
DIVERSITY
PRCVCRE
ATTITUDES
CF ACCEPTANCE
lb/8.AP
ANTI-BIAS
SKILLS AND
BEHAVICRS
GRADE
LEVEL
DESCRIPTION
APPLIED ARTS
XX
XX
X9-12
DISCUSS FOOD CULTURES; RELATIONSHIP
WITH OTHERS; KIRK AREA DISCRIMINATICN
IFE NEED FOR ALL 10 WORK AS A TEAM;
DISCUSS UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS,
COPMUNICATICN SKILLS, AND PROBLEM SOLVING
.
TECHNIQUES; UNDERSTANDING DIFFERING
BACKGROUNDS; UNDERSTAND JCS INTERVIEW
CUESTICNS CONCERNING RACE, CREED, ETC.;
UNDERSTANDING OVERSEAS JOBS, FOREIGN
'
BUSINESS; AND REALIZING FOREIGN ETICtETTE.
FINE ARTS
XXX
XX
7, 9-12
MUSIC AWARENESS THROUGH VIDEOS,
LECTURES, MJSIC LISTENING
EXAMPLES; ART HISTORY THROUGH
THE EYES CF VARIOUS CULTURES;
GENDER SENSITIVITY; THE CHANGING
RCLES CF CULTURAL ARTISTS.
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
XX
XX
9-12
CULTURAL AWARENESS THROUGH NOTES
DISPLAYS, VIDEOS, AUDIOS, TEXTS,
WORKBOOKS, REPORTS, TELEPHONE
CONVERSATIONS, AND ACTIVITIES;
RECOGNIZING AND ACCEPTING
DIVERSITY HY INCREASING KNOWLEDGE.
r kJ
J1B
ES
T C
OP
Y A
VA
ILA
BLE
LAN
GU
AG
E A
RT
Sxx
koc
xx9-
12DISCUSSING FICTIONAL BIASED SITUATIONS
AND APPLYING REAL WORLD SITUATIONS;
UNDERSTANDING BIASED BEHAVIORS;
UNDERSTANDING HCW TO ACT IN AN
ANTI-BIASED MANNER; READING MULTI-
CULTURAL WORKS; RESEARCHING FAMILY
BACKGROUNDS FOR CULTURISM;
DISCUSSING SEXUAL BIASES; TRYING TO
GAIN AN U1DERSTANDING OF MAT IS
REQUIRED IN ANTI-BIASED BEHAVIOR;
WRITING REACTICNS; DEBATING RIGHT
CR WIRCNG IN BIASED BEHAVIORS;
READING, DISCUSSING, AND REACTING TO
WORKS; PROMOTING NON -BIAS ATTITUDES TOdARD
ALL CLASSMATES.
MA
TH
EM
AT
ICS
9-12
AWARENESS CF DIFFERENT CULTURES
THROUGH STORY PROBLEMS; PROMOTING
GENDER ANTI-BIAS IN MATHEMATICS;
ACCEPTANCE CF MINORITIES IN "TYPICAL"
WHITE MALE ROLES; PRCMOTICN CF "ATTITUDES
CF ACCEPTANCE" IN INTERPERSONAL. PEOPLE SKILLS.
SC
IEN
CE
S9-
12PRCMOTICN CF SCIENCES FOR MINORITIES;
AWARENESS CF OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.
SO
CIA
. ST
UD
IES
9-12
COMPUTER WORK, LECTURES, OUTSIDE
INFORMATION, AND CURRENT EVENTS COVERING
MULTIPLE RELIGIONS, LANGUAGES, ARCHITECTURE,
DIETS, ETC.
SFECIAL EDUCATION
9-12
READ, DRAW, DISCUSS AND RESEARCH VARIOUS
BOOKS, STORIES AND BOARD DISPLAYS.
54J
GUIDE FOR FILING DISCRIMINATIONCOMPLAINTS WITH FEDERAL AGENCIES
REGION VII
1. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)911 Walnut Street, 10th floorKansas City, MO 64106Phone: (816) 426-5773
Areas: Employment/Disabilities/Age/Equal pay
2. U.S. Department of Education/Office of Civil Rights10220 North Executive Hills Blvd.Kansas City, MO 64153Phone: (816) 891-8026
Areas: Education - Elementary, Secondary, Post Secondary
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of Civil Rights601 East 12th StreetICansas City, MO 64106Phone: (816) 426-7277
Areas: Access to Social Services
4. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentGateway Tower II400 State AvenueKansas City, KS 66101-2406Phone: (913) 551-6993
Areas: Housing, Rentals, Bank Loans
5. U.S. Department of LaborOffice of Federal Contract Compliance911 Walnut StreetKansas City, MO 64106Phone: (816) 426-5384
Areas: Employment, Wage and Hour
U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTSCentral Regional Office911 Walnut Street, Room 3103Kansas City, MO 64106
OFFICIAL BUSINESSPENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300