the North Omaha community, where he successfully negotiated concessions from the city's leaders on behalf of North Omaha's African-American youth. Chambers headed a committee of the Near North Side Police-Community Relations Council, collated information, and presented numerous complaints about the police to city officials. The African-American community had previously been led by more established organizations like Omaha Urban League and the local chapter of the NAACP, not an emerging young anti-establishment leader like Chambers. Chambers was working as a barber at the time, and appeared in the Oscar-nominated 1966 documentary film A Time for Burning, where he talked about race relations in Omaha. Nebraska Legislature In 1968, Chambers ran for a position on the Omaha School Board, but was not elected. He also failed as a write-in candidate for the Omaha City Council in 1969. In 1970, he was elected to represent North Omaha's 11th District, replacing George W. Althouse, who had been appointed to replace Senator Edward Danner, who had died in office. During the election, a policeman was killed in a deserted house by a bomb. Two Black Panthers, David Rice and Edward Poindexter, were charged in the death. Chambers protested, as he thought the men had been framed by COINTELPRO. First elected to represent North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature in 1970, Chambers was reelected in every ensuing election through 2004. On April 25, 2005, Chambers became Nebraska's longest-serving state senator, having served for more than 35 years. He was not allowed to seek reelection in 2008 because of a constitutional amendment Nebraska voters passed in 2000 that limits Nebraska state legislators to two consecutive four-year terms. But the amendment permits senators to seek reelection to their office after sitting out for four years, and Chambers defeated incumbent Brenda Council in 2012 by a "landslide". Chambers also ran for the United States Senate in 1988 as a New Alliance Party candidate. He petitioned to be included on the 1974 ballot for governor of Nebraska and also ran for governor in 1994, receiving 0.43% of the vote. South African divestment Because of a legislative resolution Chambers introduced in 1980, Nebraska became the first state to divest from South Africa in protest of apartheid. Upon discovering that the University of Nebraska held several hundred gold Krugerrands as an investment, Chambers introduced a nonbinding resolution calling for reinvestment of state pension funds that had been invested directly