Tag Archives: Social Justice

Decline to Sign! Nebraskans for Public Safety gaining support

Action Alerts, News, ,

From Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty:

Last week, we announced our membership in a new coalition to fight the referendum campaign called Nebraskans for Public Safety. Support for this new group continues to grow! Today, the ACLU of Nebraska announced that they secured $400,000 grantto fight the death penalty referendum. And in case you missed it, be sure to check out the ad that ran in the Omaha World Herald from murder victims family members disgusted with attempts to bring the death penalty back:

Death penalty die ad

The coalition includes victims family members, fiscal conservatives, and faith leaders who all know that the death penalty is broken beyond repair. The coalition launched their website this week. Check it out here to learn more and get signed up to volunteer with Nebraskans for Public Safety. Additionally, be sure to “like” their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter. We need to keep their numbers growing!

Many have asked what they can do about petition circulators. According to Amy Miller, NADP board member and Legal Director of ACLU Nebraska, if you spot a death penalty circulator doing something that concerns you, use the Nebraskans for Public Safety website to report fraud. THREE particularly important things to report if you see them: (1) Circulator not reading the object statement to each signer, (2) Circulator offering something of value to gain a signature, or (3) Unattended signatures left for people to sign with no circulator in charge. Remember: you have the right to film people in public. Film any circulator you find concerning, look for their identifying information and report fraud online at NE4PS website.

Thanks for your ongoing support. We can fight this referendum campaign together and show Nebraskans that repeal of the death penalty was the right step into history.

Coalition formed to oppose death penalty referendum

News,

From the Lincoln Journal-Star:

People and groups from across the state will come together to formally oppose efforts to stop the repeal of Nebraska’s death penalty, the coalition announced Thursday.

Nebraskans for Public Safety is asking Nebraskans to decline to sign a petition that would allow people to vote in 2016 on whether the state should have a death penalty. Depending on how many signatures are collected, the petition also could stop the repeal from being enacted until the vote.

The coalition includes Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the Nebraska Innocence Project, ACLU of Nebraska, faith leaders, conservative leaders and the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, according to a news release.

Other supporting groups and individuals will be announced during the referendum campaign, said Kevin O’Hanlon, spokesman for Nebraskans for Public Safety.

Read the full story.

VICTORY: Nebraska Becomes the 19th State to Abolish the Death Penalty!

News, ,

From Nebraskans for Peace:

Wow, who would have thought it possible? Red-state Nebraska (with a few purple splotches) actually has repealed the death penalty by voting to override the Governor’s veto! And who were the people responsible for finally pushing this through? A strong coalition of abolitionists, plus some unlikely suspects, that’s who.

First, a little bit of history: Nebraska was the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty in the modern era, in 1979, but the bill failed to survive the governor’s veto. Subsequently, we saw three executions in the 1990’s, the last one being in 1997.

Read more.

Nebraska’s death penalty is repealed

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Forty years of work, piles of research, conversations and debate finally brought results Wednesday afternoon for the senator from Omaha’s near north side.

“No matter how many other things I have achieved while here, had I not gotten the death penalty repealed I would have felt it was a failure,” Sen. Ernie Chambers told reporters after a historic vote that saw 29 colleagues give just enough support to override a Republican governor’s veto of his bill (LB268) that repealed the state’s death penalty.

Read the full story.

 

Action Alert: Veto override vote today at 1:30 p.m.

Action Alerts, ,

The Nebraska Legislature has passed and the governor has vetoed a bill to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska. The Unicameral has the opportunity to make history by overriding the governor’s veto in a vote scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.

Enough senators have voted to repeal in past rounds to make a successful override likely; however, now is the moment of truth when a vote to repeal will truly mean repeal. This is a BIG deal, and the senators’ votes will follow them for the rest of their political careers. We need to give them confidence that voting to override the veto is the right thing to do — a vote they can be proud of and that Nebraska will be proud of for decades to come.

This morning, urge your senator to help override the governor’s veto and end the death penalty in Nebraska.

If you don’t know your senator, find him or her here.

Unicameral passes death penalty repeal with 32 votes

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Following a solemn debate that flashed fiery at the end, the Legislature on Wednesday passed a landmark bill to abolish the death penalty in Nebraska with sufficient support to override a gubernatorial veto.

The bill (LB268), sponsored by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, was approved on a 32-15 count following a 34-14 vote to end a last-gasp filibuster by opponents.

Thirty votes eventually will be required to override a promised veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Wednesday’s historic vote may have signaled the end of a long journey for Chambers, who has been attempting to eliminate the death penalty for four decades.

“This is it,” he said as he entered the legislative chamber to begin the debate.

In 1979, Chambers won legislative approval of death penalty repeal, but the bill fell victim to a veto by Gov. Charles Thone.

Chambers told his colleagues they were on the cusp of writing history and it was a marked change of position among conservative legislators that made the difference.

“Nebraska will step into history” if the death penalty is eliminated here, he said. “It would be the first so-called conservative state to do so.”

Read the full story.

Read more about Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Death penalty repeal advances with 30 votes

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

A bill that would repeal the death penalty moved Friday to final reading, but a leading opponent said the fight on the bill would continue for another two rounds, if needed.

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers called the vote to advance the bill on second round another step on an arduous journey, “but a step of historical significance.”

Such a bill hasn’t passed since 1979, but that was vetoed by then-Gov. Charles Thone. A similar bill by Chambers in 2013 failed to get to a vote, with 28 of the 33 needed to end a filibuster against it.

This time, 30 senators voted to advance the bill to final reading, after breaking the filibuster with 34 votes. If senators stick with their votes, it would be enough to override an expected veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts.

“When something is of truly historical significance, it is not because of one individual or one act,” Chambers said.

Read the full story.

Peg Gallagher devoted her life to nonviolence and social justice

News,

From the Omaha World-Herald:

Most people spent New Year’s Eve 1999 either celebrating or worrying about Y2K — the impact of the new millennium on everyday life.

Never one to follow convention, Margaret Sheehan Fitzgerald Gallagher did something different: With her stepdaughter, she traveled to Nevada and joined a nuclear weapons protest at a testing site. She was 81 at the time.

Friends and relatives expected nothing less. Gallagher, known as Peg, had a passion for social justice issues such as racism, the death penalty and wars she considered to be unjust.

“War and violence — she was just completely and utterly against it,” said granddaughter Joan Manriquez of New York City. “She spent a lot of time and energy protesting that.”

Read the full story.

Read Peg’s obituary.

Winona LaDuke, former GP vice presidential nominee, to speak at UNL May 14

Events, ,

From the Center for Great Plains Studies:

Winona LaDuke, a Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, and writer known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, will speak at Kimball Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. on May 14. The talk is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

LaDuke was the vice presidential nominee of the Green Party of the United States in both 1996 and 2000. Today she is the executive director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, a nonprofit that seeks to recover land for the Anishinaabeg people and to develop programs for environmental preservation.

Read more about this even and others at the Center for Great Plains Studies.

May 2 in Omaha: The Status of Race Relations – Where Are We?

Events,

From Nebraskans for Peace:

Save the date:

  • NFP Rice & Beans Potluck Fundraiser
  • Saturday, May 2, at 6 p.m.
  • Hanscom Park United Methodist
  • 4444 Frances St., Omaha (One Block South of 45th & Center streets)

Keynote speaker A’Jamal Byndon, Adjunct Professor at UNO, will deliver his talk, “The Status of Race Relations – Where Are We?”

NFP Rice and beverages will be furnished.

Please RSVP so we know how much NFP Rice to cook. Reach the NFP office at 402-453-0776 or NFPOmaha@nebraskansforpeace.org.