You might see an announcement that the legislature has expanded options for testimony and comment due to COVID and think, “Oh good, I can testify over video.” You would be wrong. Despite all the technological advancements that have been adopted during the pandemic, you still cannot testify with video conferencing tools. The revisions to policies […]
Category: Civic Engagement
Thanks for joining us for another episode of “How many Nazis does it take for the NEGOP to admit to their Nazi problem?”. Just months after James Scurlock was murdered by white supremacist Jake Gardner and with Omaha’s Black community still reeling from the loss, another Black man, Kenny Jones, was needlessly and brutally murdered […]
Hello, My name is Patricia Wonch Hill and I want to thank the Capitol Commission in advance for hearing my public comments today. I am here today because I am looking for clarification and for an update from this commission to the use and rules of the public spaces on the capitol grounds. The Nebraska […]
I was arrested while participating in the march in solidarity with Portland and to demand justice for James Scurlock, Saturday 7/25. Because so many have already given their accounts of what happened during the peaceful protest and on the bridge during the initial police action, I will skip that part. My story of those events […]
Seeing Red Nebraska staff note: what follows is the unedited firsthand account of JJ Frederick, who has given us permission to use their name. I am writing to provide you with an account of my experience regarding the protests that occurred in Omaha. I hope you find this information useful. On the evening of July […]
Seeing Red Staff note: The author of this firsthand account has requested to remain anonymous. I was arrested Saturday night after marching peacefully in solidarity with Portland and in memory of James Scurlock. The march was entirely nonviolent and no property was damaged. OPD cars followed the march the entire time, both directly behind us […]
Before we decided to write this piece, many of us on the SRN team didn’t know what religious identity many of the rest of us were. So we took a roll call and here are some of the answers: “An atheist who occasionally thinks things are so fucking weird I am agnostic-ish” Protestant Christian Methodist […]
When Zachary Smith saw the news that there would be a “Back the Blue” rally in Omaha on Saturday morning he joined many online in feeling that such a rally couldn’t be separated by the racist actions of the Omaha Police Department, which have a deep past and have been on full display this last […]
Seeing Red Nebraska has previously covered abuses of our state open records law. Open records laws (also called FOIA, though technically FOIA is federal) are important instruments of governmental transparency–in theory. In practice, some of the most powerful officials avoid open records laws either by exempting themselves from the law–as is the case with federal […]
A few weeks ago, over 60 people were arrested for “Failure to Obey Order of the Mayor” and “Failure to Disperse” in Lincoln, Nebraska over the course of two nights of BLM protests (May 31st-June 2nd) . Charges differed by the night they were arrested, for no apparent reason, but fines were set at $1,000 […]