Midwest civil rights advocates address the state of human rights in the region

The 2024 Civil Rights Conference in Lincoln began with a land acknowledgement. But it was more than simply acknowledging other people lived on the land before the conference building was erected.

Steve Laravie Jr., the executive director of the Indian Center Inc., used his land acknowledgement to focus on the importance of connection: between humans and nature, and also between humans with one another.

That launched the conference, hosted by the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights (LCHR), to address the state of civil rights in the region and the nation. The community leaders and civil rights advocates who attended discussed several current issues facing historically marginalized communities, including cultural awareness and acceptance in schools and workplaces, fair housing and discrimination in health.

Jamie Reyes, the director of LCHR, reminded Nebraskans that civil rights are not just a conversation topic reserved for the 1950s and 60s, but rather a continuous one.

“There are all these instances of, even today, we're still looking at inequalities, or disparities within groups and saying, ‘How can we even the playing field?'” Reyes said. “How can we not just go for equality, but also go for equity, and make sure that we're all walking parallel with each other?”

The four group sessions each lasted a little more than an hour. They ranged from discussing the neighborhood garden Hawley Hamlet Project to the Truth and Reconciliation: Roots of Justice History Project to the CROWN Act, a federal law that protects hair texture and style from discrimination in workplaces and public schools.

“I think that there's a lot of times in this work… It can be rather daunting, it feels as though maybe the change isn't happening fast enough," Reyes said. "But I really hope that our attendees can walk away with a sense of: 'Even if my win is small, it's still a win.'"

DerNecia Phillips led one of the first breakout sessions. The educator and CEO of DAL Education and Care Solutions spoke about pushout—when Black and brown people are punished and criminalized unfairly—in schools and workplaces.

“I most specifically want people to walk away with a call to action on how they themselves within their own organizations and within their own school systems and within their own lives, can make sure that they are amplifying the beauty of Black women and Black girls,” Phillips said. “And working to interrogate, investigate and enact a more positive future for our Black girls in schools and women in the workplace.”

Phillips is currently working on creating a school for young girls in North Omaha, “built with the dreams of Black and brown girls in mind.”

She added she hopes the school and the conference will make it so current civil rights discussions aren’t still happening 15-20 years from now.

Other notable speakers at the conference included Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Muscogee Nation member and American Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who closed out the conference as the plenary speaker.