The Need for Human Relations and Human Rights Commissions is Growing

CAHRO has recently been asked to help build human relations and human rights commissions in two starkly different cities - Beverly Hills and Chico.   CAHRO also has been working with two other contrasting cities - Rialto and Oakland - to build commissions.

Without going into the specifics for each community, there are several issues that illustrate the need for all types of communities to create a commission.  Rapidly changing demographics are a primary issue. Once stable areas that, for better or worse, had established relationships among residents of different ethnic groups are now stressed by the need to accommodate newcomers who have special needs and who are not yet familiar with the "community culture". Second, national attention is being focused on the potential for law enforcement to abuse their authority, particularly as it is exercised against people of color.  There also is an increased awareness about hate crimes and the need to build an institutional structure to address them.  Community organizing by gays, lesbians, and transgendered people who want protection from abuse also has served as a stimulus for establishing human relations and human rights commissions.

Perhaps more surprising than the growing interest in establishing human relations commissions is the continued resistance in areas where they are greatly needed. Neither San Bernardino County nor neighboring Riverside County have sought to establish commissions, despite their phenomenal population growth.  Neither the city of Stockton, nor San Joaquin County, where Stockton and Lodi are located, have taken the initiative to build commissions despite numbers of hate crimes being committed within their schools, against their religious institutions, and among their population.  While some progress is occuring, Mendocino County has yet to establish a commission, despite the initiative of several of the residents to create one without public sanction. 
There are 64 city and county human relations commissions in California. Several have a tiny budget and only part-time staff assigned to them, others are well-funded agencies with budgets well over a million dollars. Given the opportunity, commissions can provide an important resource for building networks that serve to create bridges among people from different cultural backgrounds as well as between law enforcement, schools, and other public agencies and the constituencies they serve.  They can also detect intergroup tensions and intervene before they   escalate to conflict.

Commissions are an important resource for any community and CAHRO is ready to help any city or county seeking to establish one. One of the aims of the CAHRO conference in March will be to provide residents in communities without commissions the tools they can use to help get one   established in their areas.