Omaha, Omaha, Omaha. Have you forgotten the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education?

This is the case that decided segregated schools could not be equal and therefore, they were unconstitutional.

Clearly ignoring this precedent, the state Legislature of Nebraska voted Thursday to redraw the boundaries of the Omaha school system into three districts. One district will be mostly black, one mostly Hispanic and one mostly white. The plan would go into effect July 2008.

Yes, you heard me. The school districts will be segregated by race. No, this isn’t 1945.

Earl Warren, the Chief Justice at the time of Brown v. Board of Education, wrote in his opinion that public education “is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment.”

How can students learn the cultural value of diversity if they’re told the school district they belong to is purposely segregated? How are they supposed to learn that the color of their skin is not their most important feature? How are they supposed to learn about and understand other races and ethnicities?

People tend to fear the unknown, and fear breeds hostility. This fear and isolation is not what we should teach children.

Proponents of the measure say the three districts will allow minorities to have control over their own school board, and hence their schools won’t neglect minority needs, according to an Associated Press article by Scott Bauer. Some say the schools are already segregated, so separate school districts could only improve the matter.

But why not improve the fundamental problem of segregation rather than make the segregation worse?

Not all senators support the bill. “We will go down in history as one of the first states in 20 years to set race relations back,” Omaha Sen. Pat Boone said.

The measure to divide the districts by race not only sets the wrong example for students and the community, it’s also a poor choice for financial reasons.

The Omaha school system will likely face lawsuits because of the probably-unconstitutional division. This will waste money and other resources — resources that could be better spent actually educating students.

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chamber, the bill’s sponsor and the only black member of the Nebraska Senate, said no one is harmed by his measure.

While it is possible no one person will be harmed by dividing the school district, the measure most certainly strikes a blow against the ideal of ethnic diversity and acceptance. Let’s just hope Nebraska decides to move forward rather than backward.

We’ve already tried government-sponsored segregation in this country. It didn’t work.