About.

This project was produced by the fall 2020 Social Justice and Social Change class at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Why.

2020 has been a year that laid bare systemic inequalities. Racial lines have marked the neighborhoods and families hit hardest by Covid-19, and exposed an economic faultline of essential workers who are primarily non-white. This role in society extracted a demanding price in lives lost.

In the face of such devastation and inequality, murders and assaults committed by the human hands of authorities became unbearable, and protests have been staged in many cities, including Omaha. With the deaths of George Floyd, James Scurlock, and Kenneth Jones, police brutality and law enforcement corruption became the defining social issue of 2020.

This is the story of racial injustice and community response in Omaha through a lens of capitalism and systemic white supremacy, and their role in supporting a culture of police brutality.

The Final Products:
            

Multimedia Project

Community activists, organizers, and volunteers were interviewed to create a set of videos. 

Zines

​Digital and hand-crafted zines on the topics of modern-day policing, incarceration, and their roots in slavery. 

Our Team

Multimedia Team:

The main task of our team was to create a plan for getting information about these very important topics out to as many people in the Omaha community as possible. We conducted interviews with community activists/organizers, shot and edited the videos, captured footage and then built the website you are currently on.

Zine Team:

Created a series of three zines reporting on the topic of policing. The zine team broke down into smaller groups to work on their individual zines. The process of making the zines included research and creativity to educate the audience about policing.

Community Liaison Team:

Contacted organizations and individuals that the class has agreed to work with, which included: explaining the course objects to participants, reporting expectations of participants back to the class, and securing funding for interviews and organization billing.

Miles Jordan (they/them)
Multimedia Team - Video Editor

I’m a Social Work graduate student completing my degree at the end of this semester. I conducted interviews, took photos and video, helped with pieces of this website and edited the videos you can find (and should watch) by clicking the thumbnails above. As a black, queer, trans person I am deeply connected to many of the issues we studied this semester and was inspired by the opportunity to talk to amazing change-makers in the Omaha community. I hope you’ll take a moment and learn something while you’re here.

Braeden Krall (they/them)
Multimedia Team

I am a graduating senior majoring in Sociology with a concentration in Inequality & Social Justice and two minors in LGBTQ+ Studies and Political Science. I conducted interviews and worked on some of the video editing for the documentary portion of our project. As I am not from Nebraska, I loved hearing the testimonies of several community leaders in Nebraska’s fight against white supremacy, capitalism, and policing.

Kenhan Tekla (she/her)
Multimedia Team

I am a junior sociology and history student. I was part of the multimedia group and contributed towards the website and interviews.

Gabby Point
Multimedia Team

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Jordyn Bingham (she/her)
Multimedia Team

I am a senior completing a dual degree track with a degree in criminal justice and psychology with a concentration in forensic psychology and a minor in women’s and gender studies. On this project, I worked to organize, film, and edit different sections of the documentary. I truly enjoyed listening to local activists deep dive into the topics of white supremacy, capitalism, and police brutality and connecting to
the community in new ways.

Melissa Bush
Multimedia Team

I’m a senior International Studies major with minors in Human Rights and sociology. I worked on website design and copy. I’m really proud of the work the class has done to present the profound systemic workings that create the blatant symptom of police brutality.

Scout Black (they/them)
Zine Team

I’m a Sociology Master’s student and I co-created the Policing as a Tool of White Supremacy: From Slave Patrols to Modern-day Policing zine. I really enjoyed digging deeper into these topics, both through scholarly research and organic conversations in our class discussions.

Britney Lewis (she/her)
Zine Team

I am a Junior majoring in Psychology with a minor in sociology. I worked on the Policing in Omaha, NE zine. I am happy to have worked on this project because I am not from Omaha. I think it has really helped me connect with the community and I have learned a lot about racism in Omaha.

Olivia Larson
Zine Team

She is the content creator and editor of Policing II. She solely produced the layout, cover art, and design. She hopes this will serve to inform and inspire positive change (abolition of the carceral state). This is her first full zine, and after this tumultuous semester, she is simply glad it exists.

Lauren
Zine Team

I am a junior at UNO majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminal Justice. I took part in making the Policing in Omaha Zine. My favorite part of the zine was adding in parts of Omaha's Police Force Policy. It was really intriguing to me and clearly in some of the examples I added in the zine, policy was broken. I hope these projects reach people and help them understand the reality of these events.

Savannah Schendt (she/her)
Zine Team

I am a Senior majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Forensic Psychology and minoring Sociology and Criminal Justice. I helped create the zine “Policing as a Tool of White Supremacy: From Slave Patrols to Modern Day Policing.” Diving into the history of policing gave me a whole new understanding on the issues that are happening today. I really enjoyed working with this amazing group of people who worked together to make this project happen.

Michael Cargill
Zine Team

I’m a senior majoring in sociology concentrated on inequality & social justice while minoring in psychology. I took part in the creation of the Policing II zine. I researched and compiled descriptive statistics pertaining to the United States prison-industrial complex as well as the ”Central Park Five”. I hope this project sheds light on the injustices of society, both past & present.

Clarice Dombeck
​​Community Liaison Team

I’m a double major in Black studies and sociology with a concentration in African American studies and Inequality and Social Justice. I communicated with prospective community partners. I also had a conversation with a friend who is currently incarcerated. We discussed his personal experience with prison labor, and our conversation will be featured in the Policing White Capitalism zine

Mia Bourek (she/hers)
​​Community Liaison Team

I’m a Sociology Master’s student and I worked to help secure funding for the interviews. I am glad for my experience on this project as it helped me realize that the racist, colonial ideals that helped build America hundreds of years ago have yet to be reckoned with on a structural level.

Maureen Gibilisco (she/her)
​​Community Liaison Team

I am a senior, majoring in International Studies with minors in Human Rights and Political Science. Worked with the community liaison group in an effort to connect with local activists. This project was different from anything else I have ever been a part of at UNO.  I really appreciate the amount of heart and teamwork that went into accomplishing our goals.

Summer Campbell (she/her)
​​Community Liaison Team

I am majoring in Political Science with a minor in International Studies and Human Rights Studies. As part of the Community Liaison group I helped communicate with community partners. I enjoyed being on this project as it helped to shed light on the existing problems that are currently happening in our community.

Hannah Michelle Bussa (she/her)
Community Liaison Team

I’m an undergraduate multidisciplinary studies major focusing on social justice, journalism, and social work. For this project, I partnered with What Youth Can Do and recorded the conversations with the members who wanted to share. I appreciated getting the perspectives of seventeen-year-olds on how white supremacy, capitalism, and policing has impacted their communities here in the Omaha area. Their responses gave me hope for the future.