North Omaha

North Omaha is commonly viewed as a violent, poor, drug infested community where only low income African Americans live. Most people think that the kids in that specific part of Omaha will never amount to anything but drug dealers, gang members, or living on welfare. They do not see the positives that come out of that same neighborhood. People try to disassociate themselves from that specific part of Omaha. It carries a stigma that no one wants to be associated with. It is not just shunned by outsiders but it is shunned by members of the community, for instance Creighton University, which is located in North Omaha, posted information on their website encouraging prospective medical students to find housing outside of the North Omaha area. They reported the housing in North Omaha as being older, smaller, more run down and a little ways from shopping areas. They also said that although they can be close to Creighton, many of these neighborhoods have bad reputations and we recommend looking elsewhere for housing.
This picture uses illustration to project what people think about North Omaha. It has a visual representation of the police cars which is what associated with North Omaha, the rough neck neighborhood. But, it uses pathos to draw emotion from the reader. The phrase "I Have a Dream" is widely known throughout the world and is synanomous with a struggle to become equal in the eyes of other which is what these children and families are trying to do to prove they are worth while.

Although many people focus on the negatives of North Omaha, there are a plethora of positives associated with it. Most of the attention received by North Omaha is focused on racial tension and economic strife. The area is trying to make the future bright and create opportunities for those less fortunate by creating after school programs aimed to help children stay focused on the positives in their lives and deter young kids from turning to gangs to gain acceptance and to keep them out of trouble with law enforcement. Programs such as North Omaha B.E.A.R.S, which is an acronym for Building Esteem and Responsibility Systematically, the North Omaha Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc. help to serve the area by combining sports with academics, builds self esteem, and creates better social skills.

North Omaha, just like any other place in Nebraska has its issues that need to be addressed, but the situation will never get better if everyone continues to focus on the negatives and not the positives. That is why this picture has a dual meaning to me. When I first saw it, I thought the message it was trying to get across was that even though most people see the kids of that part of town as hopeless, just like you they have dreams and aspirations that they hope to one day attain. They do not choose to be in that situation and not all of the kids are hopeless. Not all of the kids are terrible. They just need a little more help in achieving their goals because they have to work twice as hard just to beat the odds and to not become another statistic.

Hidden in the shadows is the fact that there have been some very successful and quite popular people that have come from North Omaha and gone on to greater things. For instance there is Gabrielle Union, who is a famous actress that has starred in movies such as Bring it On, Bad Boys II, and Deliver us From Eva. There are also some great football players who play or have played in the National Football League such as Gale Sayers who was raised in North Omaha and graduated from Omaha Central High School, and then went on to become a two-time All-American player at the University of Kansas and eventually ending up with the Chicago bears. Ahman Green who also graduated from Central High School before attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to play football and eventually playing for the Green Bay Packers and now plays for the Houston Texans. And, last but not least there is Johnny Rodgers, the 1972 Heisman trophy winner who is idolized by kids all over Nebraska.

The second meaning it had to me was the fact that North Omaha has a rich history in the civil rights movement, which dates back to at least 1912 when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Omaha chapter was founded. It is also the birthplace of one of the most prominent figures in American civil rights history, Malcolm Little who is commonly referred to as Malcolm X. It is also home to Whitney Young Jr., another influential figure in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement, who spent most of his career trying to end employment discrimination.

North Omaha has lots of history to offer the city. It has important annual events which help to define the community as well as celebrate it. By encouraging people to not go there and being prejudice against it, leaves a historical part of Omaha unrecognized.