The Death of "Nebraska Nice"
by Sue Greenwald, M.D.
This article is a follow-up to Equity at the Nebraska Capitol. If you have not read that article, please do so before proceeding. It describes in detail the May 19 Capitol disturbance that was the culmination of months of tolerating an uncontrolled mob in the Capitol rotunda. The tameness of this follow-up report by the Nebraska Examiner, while accurate, does not go far enough in humanizing the cost of Lincoln, Nebraska’s failure to secure the Capitol.
The Examiner article states that two of the women who instigated the disturbance had their charges dropped. We already knew that because of the bragging/whining on social media that ensued.
When asked, Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said he didn’t have the evidence to pursue the charges. He could have asked any one of 15 or so people in the opposite balcony who video’d the entire thing.
The people still facing charges are those that reacted to the disturbance, some by participating, but at least one by standing her ground when she had not broken any rules.
Danna Seevers of Seward, Nebraska wanted to see a bill get passed that she had braved the mob to support, for weeeks. She did not yell or throw anything, she did not lunge at anyone. She politely submitted when State Patrol forced her to leave.
The order to clear out all spectators if there was a disturbance was issued by Speaker Arch before the days’s session even started. Everyone knew that a disturbance was inevitable, as they had been occuring regularly even before that invitation was issued. Some proponents of the bill had just had their fill of the drama, and wanted to be treated with the same courtesy they consistently displayed. Instead they were forced to leave the balcony and walk the guantlet through an angry mob, either that or be arrested.
Lesson learned: Courtesy is over-rated.
Note to Capitol Security: you don’t need new rules, just enforce the ones you have. The mob had been allowed to intimidate senators, staffers and citizens, even school children for weeks. Anyone who passed through the rotunda was exposed to it. At one point the noise level was interrupting the speakers on the legislative floor, yet the disrupters were not asked to stop their activities or leave the building. In fact, Senator Hunt was encouraging them to continue.
The Red Coat volunteers admitted to fearing the mob. It is easier to punish the polite people than to confront the unruly.
Going forward, “Nebraska Nice” isn’t going to cut it. We need some Nebraska rules of engagement that are enforced. This will get worse before it gets better because of what people on one side got away with during the 2023 session.
Fast forward to July 31, 2023. I was invited by Senator Murman to testify to the Education Committee regarding the Parent’s Rights in Education bill that they had been debating. I spent 2 weeks preparing my statement, which I will later share in this space. There were so many things that I felt the senators needed to understand, it was hard to choose what to emphasize in my short time to speak. One of the most important points was the fact that Social Emotional Learning is insidiously undermining public civility by steeping students in moral relativism and promoting activism.
Moral Relativism teaches that whatever you feel is moral, is. Graduates of that philosophy are constantly telling others to respect “their truth” as everyone has their own truth. Feelings matter, facts don’t. Laws are to be followed only if you as an individual consider them just. People you don’t know are oppressing you with their micro-aggressions. This is the current value system being promoted in every school that uses SEL.
It was incredibly disheartening that after all my preparation, there were few senators attending. Senators Sanders and Murman were there. Senator Albrecht was there by teleconference. Senator Wayne stayed for the opponents speeches and then left. Senator Conrad was there to support the NSEA position and try to discredit every speaker as if she were opposing council in a courtroom.
The proponents spoke last. We sat quietly and politely through the paid lobbyists spouting various versions of: “We aren’t teaching CRT, and it’s good that we are.”
State Board of Education member Kirk Penner was heckled by the bystanders. No one was reprimanded or asked to leave. Veteran educator Lisa Schonhoff mildly received that treatment. When it was my turn to speak, hecklers interrupted me 3 times. I paused each time so they could be asked to leave, but they weren’t.
This was a teaching moment. If you ask my generation, people raised with Judeo-Christian values, if it is appropriate to heckle the speaker in a legislative hearing, the answer would be 100% NO. If you ask the SEL generation, people raised with moral relativism, the answer is “it depends.”
In their minds they are completely justified in acting in an uncivilized manner toward someone they call a “hater.” In their minds, people who disagree are not to be debated, they are to be silenced. In their minds, their personal feelings are more valid than any facts, and there is nothing they could learn from me.
Every year, our colleges and high schools are graduating more people with this fluid value system that lacks civil boundaries. That is why I made the effort to prepare for 2 weeks, drive 2 hours each way, to wait 2 1/2 hours to testify to a hostile room.
That is why “Nebraska Nice” is on life support.
The author is a retired Pediatrician and co-founder of Protect Nebraska Children Coalition.