The title of this book is lengthy but quite definitive. Invasion of the Booty Snatchers: The Nebraska Tradition of Leeching For Grant Money to Maintain the Racial Gap and Offset an Impending $900 million Deficit describes the past, present and future "vision" of the Cornhusker state and its largest city, Omaha, Nebraska. "Booty," as we know, it a synonym for "treasure" and the ceaseless pursuit of profit, bereft of an intelligent vision and plan, is why Nebraska is in the present financial crisis it finds itself in (even as its largest city basks in freakishness, frolic and financial profiteering). For the past century, the state of Nebraska has been able to survive in a relatively "controlled" situation made up of people who do not study, who refuse to engage in research and who consider the label "cornhusker" a compliment. It is a state whose largest city is made up of people of leisure, who are laid back and traditional - you know - hicks. This book answers questions that Omaha leadership has not answered because to do so would unmask the long-time bamboozling that has been imposed on its population. As a Black Studies scholar I have studied well the art and science of oppression and when it comes to "taxation without representation," Omaha's treatment of African-Americans reigns without rival. In this book I address the unicameral legislature, the only one in the nation and some selected "controversies" that offer a taste of how and why the state's largest city can get away with the on-going leeching for Federal funding using the poverty of First Nation, Latino and African-American people as its "target populations." In addition to background on the state, information on Omaha's electoral politics, the lack of originality and modernity, its poor vision and management which have led to tax revenue shortages will be offered. Following a section on Nebraska tourism, this book deals with statewide entrepreneurship and on-going attempts at "tax relief." Moreover, insights on the abuse of poverty grants, short-lived "minority programs" and the "racial gap" in Omaha will be explored. Omaha's concept of "community development" and its "reinvent the wheel" tendencies toward educational paradigms will be examined. Other issues to be covered include "the farmland crisis," the health care industry, the judiciary and penal systems and the social service system which is perennially under Federal scrutiny. This book tells it like it is since so few people in Omaha (read: none) dare to do so.
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.