So it's come to this.

Omaha's troubled urban school district is now poised, with the blessing of Nebraska's legislature and governor, to divide itself into three separate districts -- one mostly black, one mostly hispanic, and one mostly white. And the man behind it is the state's one-and-only black lawmaker, State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.

How Omaha and Nebraska have wound up here is a fascinating and complicated story, with lessons for every struggling majority-minority urban district in this country. And thoughtful Nebraskans have a lot to say about it.

In her piece in the Northern Star Online, columnist Jessica King worries about the inherent lesson children will learn from the proposed district set-up... "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?"

For his part, Chambers argues passionately that minority children will gain, because districts will be controlled by adults from the same minority, who will have their best interests at heart.

For some insight into how at least two clued-in Nebraska parents feel about the plan, check out this discussion between A’Jamal-Rashad Byndon, an African-American parent of an Omaha student, and Susan Darst Williams, a white parent in the Omaha metro area.

Here's a thoughtful blog about the law, with insight into what's driving Chambers and like-minded minority residents of Omaha.

As with the issues of charter schools and vouchers before this, in Nebraska disgust with decades of educational malpractice seems to be turning into a potent and unpredictable political force, one that finds minorities making common cause with conservative and rural interests to the befuddlement of mainstream observers.