A new president comes into office with the sense of opportunity that comes with a new dawn. This is particularly true of President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office after the unrest in Donald Trump’s tenure.
President-elect Biden inherits truly terrifying problems including the spike pandemic, the collapsing economy, corrosive inequality, catastrophic climate change and entrenched structural racism. He stood up for Black Lives Matter and has promised a new civil rights day, with a special focus on police reform.
America’s institutionalized racism goes well beyond the police, of course. We have seen the proliferation of brazen voter repression programs since the US Supreme Court overturned federal voting rights. Our public schools are becoming increasingly separated and unequal. Blacks and Latinos have suffered disproportionately from the economic collapse surrounding the pandemic and from the pandemic itself. Racial disparities in terms of housing, health care, wealth, and more are growing. And now that America is becoming more diverse, discrimination against other minorities, from Latinos to Native Americans, requires redress.
President-elect Biden will no doubt appoint an attorney general who is sensitive to these concerns. All over the government
Civil rights departments are being revived and recharged. Measures on voting rights, reducing mass detention and police reform will follow. As part of this renewed commitment, the new president should consider steps to revitalize and empower the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, preferably with new leadership, new authority, and adequate staff to fulfill the vital role of overseeing civil rights advancement, Investigate abuses and make recommendations about remedies.
The commission was established under Republican President Eisenhower in the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Its mission was “to continuously evaluate the status of civil rights and the efficiency of the machines with which we want to improve that status”. It has been tasked with collecting data, holding hearings, providing a clearing house, and coordinating government and private agencies working in the area of civil rights. It would issue regular reports and make recommendations on how to remedy civil rights violations.
In the early years, the Commission played an important role. Its distinguished members helped develop the case and formulated the reforms that informed, among other things, the early civil rights laws, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In the 1980s, President Reagan attempted to weaken the commission and reduce staff and resources. After President Reagan illegally tried to dismiss three of the commissioners, he forced a compromise that would see eight commissioners serving a staggered six-year term, with half appointed by the president, two by the president of the house and two by the president on a pro tempore basis US Senate. Since then, the commission has declined in stature and effectiveness.
President-elect Biden should revive the commission. He should appoint a new director of national importance and provide the necessary resources to rebuild the staff and functions of the Commission. He should look for new laws to give the president the power to appoint the commissioners and give them more authority.
An active commission could help advance the research and reforms that are vital to the fight against civil and human rights in this country. There could be a review of how civil rights legislation should be updated to meet the challenges of a much more diverse country. It could hold voter suppression and wandering hearings – and revitalizing the suffrage law – to alert the public to a growing problem. It could examine the challenge of reforming police forces into effective public safety institutions.
As the new president selects the officials who will work to deliver on his civil rights and criminal justice reform pledges, it would be wise to include the resuscitation of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission as a central element of that agenda.
The author is the founder and president of the national Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
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