The NAACP has sued to block a proposed redistricting plan by the schools of Omaha, Nebraska. Under the plan, the city's schools would be divided into three districts largely along racial lines: one district would be overwhelmingly white, one largely black and the third would have a strong Hispanic majority.
The NAACP contends the redistricting proposal, which includes the takeover of some suburban schools by the Omaha school district, violates the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education which effectively declared that separate but equal in schools was inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional.
'Segregation is morally wrong, regardless of who advocates it,' said Tommie Wilson of the Omaha chapter of the NAACP.
Those who support the new plan say it would give minorities more control over their own educations.
The 45,000-student Omaha school system is 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.
The NAACP wants a new redistricting proposal to be drafted by January.
