For Immediate Release
Contact: Jimmie Griffin 8/2/2010
203-577-8084
On Saturday, July 31, 2010, following a Community Summit on Waterbury’s Human and Civil Rights Issues, the Waterbury Coalition for Better Government (WCBG) passed a resolution that asked the Mayor, and the Board of Alderman to staff the defunct office of the Human Rights Commission.
Rev. Lydell Brown, the president of WCBG, passionately engaged the group of leaders, which included: local, and state elected officials, the President of the Waterbury NAACP, Monroe Webster, along with numerous other Community Advocates and concerned residents of Waterbury, in desiring the office of the Human Rights Commission to be funded and staffed immediately; because it had been the chartered law for over twenty years, and had not enforced any of the city’s anti-discrimination laws that were established as a result of a federal order dating back decades concerning disparities in our government system.
Brown, also the president of a city-wide Black Clergy Council, said; “We have to dispel the myth that racial discrimination is confined to any one group because it crosses all social, racial and economic lines.” He also stated that, “ our coalition is very upset that after all these years, this city’s is known for resisting the enforcement of its on laws, and as a result, has a poor record of diversity in most areas of its government offices, including recent construction projects.”
The Human Rights Commission, reactivated in 1999, and consisting of eleven members was created by charter and appointments made after a long period of inactiveness by then Mayor Philip A. Giordano. He in turn received a great deal of pressure from the local NAACP. The commission was first formed in the mid-sixties as the Human Relations Committee to address racial tensions.
This commission established by section 93.07 of the charter states that the commission shall also consist of an executive director hired by the mayor, a secretary, and other personnel to be hired as needed. It is the commission’s responsibility to provide a list of nominees to the mayor for the executive director’s position.
Brown said, “ It’s time to staff this commission, its been over twenty years and we have not even made an attempt to protect the rights of our citizens in Waterbury as established by law and that’s a travesty.’
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