“Almost every other week you hear about some shooting that happened,” said Abraham Funchess, division administrator for the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans.

The Iowa State Baptist Convention, which represents about 8,000 congregants, is working with the commission on a “10 Point Plan for the 21st Century” based on a similar program in Boston. Organizers also hope members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Church of God and Christ will join in the efforts. Several other entities, including Iowa Workforce Development, Iowa Department of Education and Wells Fargo also have agreed to assist, he said.

The plan will take place in the 10 target cities the commission is working in as part of its Ongoing-Covenant with Black Iowa, which is a plan to improve the lives of blacks in Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Davenport, Burlington, Ft. Madison, Iowa City, Sioux City and Des Moines.

“It’s pulling in our most critical institution – the church,” Funchess said.

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, youth crime and gang activity is most prevalent during the summer when many youth are unsupervised. According to a summer 2008 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the arrests of juveniles under the age of 18 for murder rose 3.4% in 2006 compared with 2005, according to 2008 FBI statistics. The report also found that people under the age of 25 accounted for 52% of those arrested for murder and 64.8% of those arrested for robbery in 2006. A spike also was noted in gang activity, the report found.

The 10 point plan will address a variety of issues, including:

· A cultural shift to help reduce youth violence, both physically and verbally within the black community by sparking conversation, introspection and reflection on the thoughts and actions that hold blacks back as a people, individually and collectively.

· Churches will develop a curriculum regarding black and Latino history with an emphasis on the struggles of women of color.

· Address the trauma as a physical and emotional reality on the lives of young people and their families as a direct result of violence.

· Build meaningful relationships with high-risk youth.

· Focus on connecting and rebuilding the lives of youth who have been incarcerated and stigmatized by mainstream society.

· Provide youth advocacy and one-one-one mentoring for high-risk youth.

· Provide gang mediation and intervention for high-risk youth with the goal of establishing cease-fires and building the foundation for active peace.

· Establish accountable, community-based economic development projects with an emphasis on revenue generation and demystifying the accumulation and power of money through financial literacy.

· Building partnerships with the social/secular institutions, with suburban and downtown communities of faith to help provide spiritual, human and material support.

· Provide ongoing training for individual churches along with a systematic program in leadership development to create, maintain, and sustain community mobilization.

The Boston 10 Point plan arose after gang violence occurred inside a church. A similar problem occurred recently at a funeral held in Davenport at the church of Iowa State Baptist Convention President Rev. Rogers Kirk, Funchess said. Kirk was unavailable for comment.

The plan will feature a national curriculum, “Community Works: Smart Teens make Safer Communities,” which is part of the National Crime and Prevention Council. It’s an 11-week program for youth to help them understand how violence affects them and culminates in a community project, Funchess said.

“The idea is that this is something that will never die,” Funchess said. “It will be sustaining.”

Funchess said physical violence isn’t the only type of violence being addressed by the 10 point plan. He said the plan also addresses the “disproportionality” that affects black youth in nearly every aspect of their lives as Iowans.

A task force organized by Gov. Chet Culver is trying to address problems within the juvenile justice system, including the disproportionate number of blacks who are detained in juvenile detention facilities. A disproportionate number of blacks are imprisoned in Iowa and suspended and expelled from schools across the state, according to state criminal justice and education data.

Funchess recently told the task force that “accountability begins at home, and the church of all institutions can help create these values.”

According to the CDC’s 2008 report, homicide was the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 24, with 82 percent of them dying because of a firearm.

“This stuff is happening so much that we get desensitized,” Funchess said. “But it does require our intervention.”

Commissioners will begin discussing past and future priorities and the commission’s 2008 annual report during a meeting at 1 p.m. today at the Grimes State Office Building.

“We always have to factor in the new election,” said Alicia Claypool, commission chairwoman.

Commissioners and volunteers also have a booth at the Iowa State Fair this week. Fairgoers can win prizes for taking a quiz about civil rights. Youth can complete a survey. The booth is located along the south wall of the Varied Industries Building.

“It gives us a chance to talk to people from all over Iowa so that’s a good thing,” Claypool said.

Claypool said the commission has experienced many successes during the past two years, including being able this year to extend the deadline for Iowans to file discrimination complaints from 180 to 300 days.

At today’s meeting, the commission will review its policy decisions since 2001, some of which include:

• Des Moines School Board member Jonathan Narcisse discussed the state of African-Americans in Iowa. The commission supported his work to create a report about the problems.
• The commission supported the Ames City Council, which invited a former commissioner to speak about making Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a city holiday.
• The commission signed a statement for El Forro, a Latino and Latina advocacy group, warning against discrimination of people of Middle Eastern descent.
• In 2002, the commission supported efforts to end the use of Native American mascots, particularly for schools. The commission lauded Iowa schools that chose new mascots.
• The commission sent a letter in 2002 to the Iowa Utilities Board to allow expansion of the program to people who have physical and cognitive disabilities, which the board declined.
• In 2004, the commission wrote a letter praising WHO-TV for removing ads deemed as “anti-immigration.”
• The commission voted unanimously in 2004 to support the right of felons to vote.
• The commission, along with Des Moines Area religious leaders, denounced the distribution of Neo-Nazi fliers in 2005.
• The commission sent a message to Iowa State University in support of an anti-hate rally in response to homophobic graffiti.
• The commission supported an educational center in Des Moines for immigrants.
• The commission opposed making English the official state language.
• The commission supported the Iowa Department of Education in creating a nondiscrimination policy and anti-bulling policies, which included sexual orientation.
• The commission opposed requiring all citizens to obtain voter ID cards.
• The commission worked against predatory lending practices.
• The commission supported legislative proposals that would allow immigrants to qualify for state residency to pursue college regardless of immigration status.
• The commission opposed a state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
• The commission worked to improve housing accessibility on behalf of people who have disabilities.
• The commission has worked for immigration reform, calling for system overhauls, more visas and family reunification, among other fixes.

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann named King the “Worst Person in the World.”  The Iowa Civil Rights Commission considered action.  Gov. Chet Culver told the Iowa Independent that King should retract the statement.

So logically, Congressman King posted what he said on his congressional web site, which is paid for by taxpayers.  The entire statement is still there.

Generally, such overtly partisan rhetoric is reserved for campaign web sites rather than congressional web sites, because taxpayer money is not supposed to pay for campaign activities like this.  The Iowa Independent first brought you this story in March.

The study will help the commissions determine whether fair housing laws are being upheld and help educate people about the issue. A final report is expected in June. 

“Testing or the use of testers posing as potential applicants for jobs, apartments, or public services can be an effective and efficient tool for civil rights agencies in their mission to eliminate unlawful discrimination,” said Ralph Rosenberg, executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in a press release.

Last year, the commission conducted a similar test in the Des Moines area about housing for people with disabilities which found few areas of concern.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color and national origin, among other things. In 1988, people with disabilities were added to the list of those protected against housing discrimination, according to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

When she heard that U.S. Rep Steve King had made controversial remarks about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the Iowa Civil Rights commissioner wanted to denounce the “hateful” statements.

“This one just hit a button,” Gitchell told fellow commissioners during a meeting Thursday at the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines.

King, a Republican from Kiron, said if Obama were elected president, Al-Qaeda would be “dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11. Because they will declare victory in this war on terror.”

King could not be reached for comment.

Debbie Gitchell

“People approach me and say, ‘Is he representing your state?’” said Gitchell, of Ames.

King said Obama’s middle name, which is Hussein, would cause Al-Qaeda to celebrate, which Gitchell said was a degrading remark. She asked commissioners what could be done about King and his statements.

“You need to move to western Iowa and vote,” said Connie Gronstal, a commissioner from Council Bluffs.

King has said “much worse” about issues such as immigration, Gronstal added.

Connie Gronstal

“We could probably come up with a whole list of quotes,” said Alicia Claypool, commission chairwoman, of West Des Moines.

Commissioners discussed whether to respond, but they decided against issuing a statement.

Claypool said she struggled with the issue and suggested monitoring King’s statements.

“We might want to consider a public statement at some point down the road,” she said.

Alicia Claypool

Ralph Rosenberg, the commission’s executive director, said the commission typically doesn’t get involved every time it disagrees with a politician’s statement, but could if it touched on issues of civil rights or human dignity.

Commissioner Nancy Witt, of Reinbeck, said King’s speech was hateful and inappropriate, but she balked at using the commission’s staff time and limited resources to respond.

“I regard the guy as a blowhard and aggrandizing and so I just kind of toss it off like the guy is saying outrageous stuff again,” she said. “It’s hateful, but is that a good way to use our resources?”

Commissioner Rich Eychaner, of Des Moines, said there’s a distinction between King’s comments and the anti-gay comments made by state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Okla., who said homosexuality is “the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”

“She’s been widely denounced in her state,” Eychaner said. “But it was a more personal attack on a whole category of people, where this is somewhat focused in the political realm and on a national figure.”

Rich Eychaner

He added that King likely “relishes” the attention paid to his comments, but an emphasis this political season has been placed on civility.

“So maybe the approach is not as much condemning his particular comments but affirming the value of civility in political discussion and that kind of leaves him out of it,” Eychaner said. “How you can respectfully disagree with people without being disrespectful.”

Gitchell agreed with other commissioners that the discussion was productive.

“It may be out of our realm, but maybe just discussing it makes us show that we are aware,” she said.

“The solution lies with the voters and not with statements by us, unfortunately,” said commissioner Rick Morain, of Jefferson.
 

King earlier this month said if Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama were elected president, Al-Qaeda would be “dancing in the streets.” Rosenberg said a commissioner found King’s remarks distasteful.

“Our commissioners were following the story in the media about Congressman King’s comments regarding presidential candidate Senator Obama, and they were wondering what role the commission should have, if any, about that kind of speech,” said Ralph Rosenberg, the commission’s executive director.

The commission will discuss how to address such statements, whether it should take a position, what the position should be and how to communicate it. The commission will meet from 3:30 to 5 p.m. today at the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines.

“It raised a larger issue: What do you do when an elected official from Iowa says something that you disagree with that it appears has some civil rights or human dignity context? What’s our role?” Rosenberg said. “Do we respond to everything a politician says that we disagree with?”

Rosenberg said he was unsure if the commission will take a vote on the issue.

Commission Chairwoman Alicia Claypool said in an e-mail: “This is an open discussion as nothing specific has been suggested for what form a response might take.”

Gov. Chet Culver called for King to retract his statements.

A small group of volunteers is helping the Iowa Civil Rights Commission battle discrimination in the state.Volunteers from the The AmeriCorps Vista Program have helped the financially strapped agency conduct research and increase public awareness about the commission and its work enforcing civil rights law and investigating discrimination complaints.

Commission volunteers Crystal Schrader, Jake Beckwith, Karen Miranda and Jennifer Fath have worked on a variety of research and outreach projects at the commission since August 2007. VISTA volunteers serve one-year terms at non-profit organizations or government agencies across the country. The volunteers can receive either a $4,725 educational grant or a $1,200 cash stipend at the end of the program.

The commission, which has struggled to add more staff, has relied heavily upon the busy volunteers, said Ralph Rosenberg, the commission’s executive director. 

After graduating from Adrian College in Michigan with degrees in English and Spanish in 2006, Beckwith, 24, was looking for a way to help people, he said.

“It’s not always an immediate realization that you’re making a difference, but you just keep working at it every day,” he said, of his work at the commission. “Every effort you make is improving equal opportunity.”

Schrader, 29, who is working on a master’s degree in theology and last year worked for the Lutheran Volunteer Corps., with immigrants and refugees in Baltimore, MD., agreed. She said she has been amazed as Iowans recount their experiences with discrimination.

“Just appalled at how blatant sometimes the discrimination is,” she said.

The volunteers have worked on several research and outreach projects, including:
]]> http://iowaindependent.com/2055/volunteers-help-iowans-fight-discrimination/feed http://iowaindependent.com/1956/more-data-needed-about-hate-crimes-in-iowa-officials-say http://iowaindependent.com/1956/more-data-needed-about-hate-crimes-in-iowa-officials-say#comments Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:31:38 +0000 Dana Boone http://iowaindependent.com/1956/more-data-needed-about-hate-crimes-in-iowa-officials-say Iowa officials want more information about hate crimes being committed in the state to increase awareness and help victims and communities fight the problem.

Officials from the Iowa Department of Human Rights said the number of hate crimes reported by law enforcement agencies is only a small fraction of the hate crimes being attempted in the state. Officials want data on more than just hate crime convictions; they want to learn more about the number of complaints, reported and unreported, and arrests that don’t lead to convictions. 

“We would need to expand the number of state agencies involved in collecting the information: public safety, highway patrol, including legislative and judicial committees within the legislature, if we want to bring some real notice to this concern,” said Walter Reed, director of the human rights department.

Nationally hate crimes are on the rise. Reports of long-standing symbols of hate, such as nooses, increased after the high-profile case of six black Louisiana teen-agers known as the “Jena 6,”  according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes. Black students fought a white student two months after a noose was hung from a tree on school property, which media reports said sparked racial tensions.

President George W. Bush last week decried the increase of nooses being displayed across the country, which can can violate state and federal laws, and called the lynchings of African-Americans a shameful chapter in American history. “The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice,” he said in an Associated Press story on Feb. 12 during a Black History Month Celebration at the White House.

In Iowa a hate crime occurs when an offense is committed against a person or property because of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability or because of a person’s association with people who have those traits.

Hate crimes are up nearly 8 percent to 7,222 incidents in 2006, from 7,163 in 2005, according to FBI statistics. The FBI Hate Crimes Report for 2006 showed the incidents spawned 9,080 criminal offenses, including 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property and 38 against society. The offenses included 2,911 acts of vandalism; 2.046 acts of intimidation; 1,447 simple assaults; 860 aggravated assaults, six rapes and three murders, among other crimes.

The report, which includes law enforcement statistics and biannual surveys, found that only 44 percent of hate crimes are reported to police. Police made arrests in about 19 percent of hate crimes, the report stated. Iowa reported 28 hate crime incidents, Nebraska 56, Minnesota, 137 and Missouri 78.

Iowa reported 33 hate crimes in 2005, according to the The Iowa Department of Public Safety. The data is derived from police and sheriff reports, according to a department spokeswoman.. Blacks were most often the targets, and the offenders were most often were white men, according to the report.

Reed said Africans and other immigrants in Iowa have expressed concerns about hate crimes. Hate crimes against those perceived to be undocumented immigrants is on the rise, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Anti-Latino hate crimes rose by almost 35 percent between 2003 and 2006, according to the center.

Officials would like to conduct a survey among Iowans about hate crimes to find out more about unreported crimes. Officials would use the results to increase awareness and help communities understand how to respond when a hate crime occurs.

“It would not be used to blame and point fingers but to get a baseline,” said Ralph Rosenberg, executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, which takes calls from residents across the state who believe they may have been victims of hate crimes. “We just don’t have all the data.”

The best response to hate crimes is an immediate response from law enforcement, faith-based groups and the community, Reed and Rosenberg agreed. Commission volunteers from AmeriCorps VISTA, a national community service organization, are creating a packet of materials about how to respond to hate crimes.

Officials last fall studied seven randomly chosen apartment buildings, which serve low- to -high-income residents in Des Moines, Johnston, Urbandale, Clive and West Des Moines. An anonymous tester looked for problems in the rental units’ design and construction. Landlords and real estate agents weren’t notified in advance of the site visits.

The study was designed to increase awareness about the barriers those with disabilities can face in housing. Most rental units studied were accessible to people with disabilities, but some “shortcomings” were noted:

  * Some dumpsters were inaccessible to a person in a wheelchair.
  * Air-conditioning units were inaccessible to a person in a wheelchair in three of the seven buildings.

“It actually gives us a baseline for what is going on with discrimination,” said the commission’s executive director, Ralph Rosenberg, during a commission meeting last week. Results of the study were released last month.

Rosenberg added, “The biggest bang for our buck in civil rights is to prevent new buildings from being constructed that violate civil rights law.”

According to the commission, fair housing laws spell out how dwellings must be built to accommodate those with disabilities. Omitting any of the following could give rise to a discrimination complaint:

  * Failing to provide at least one accessible building entrance.
  * Providing common and public areas that are unusable by, or inaccessible to, disabled persons.
  * Installing doors with less than a 32-inch clear opening.
  * Failing to provide accessible routes into and through dwelling units.
  * Placing environmental controls (light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, etc.) lower than 15 inches from the floor or higher than 48 inches from the floor.
  * Failing to reinforce bathroom walls for future grab bar installations. This is the only item not tested by the commission.
  * Designing and constructing kitchens and bathrooms that are unusable to disabled persons.

The commission received 1,915 discrimination complaints last year. Race and disability were most often cited as reasons for housing discrimination complaints, according to the commission`s 2007 annual report. Disability was named in 45 of 121 housing complaints, the report found.

Rosenberg said in an interview Monday that the commission will work on other testing studies. The next study includes assessing newspaper housing ads that may discriminate against people with children, he said.

“We think sometimes that the media is putting in ads that violate the law,” he said.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and the 20th anniversary of adding people with disabilities to the list of those protected against housing discrimination. For more information, visit the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The state agency has a long list of issues it wants to tackle, but a limited budget could continue to hamper plans to work through a backlog of citizens’ discrimination complaints, officials said.

Legislative priorities for the commission this year include extending the deadline for filing a discrimination complaint from 180 days to 300, which would match the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Housing and Urban Development deadlines. The commission also wants to obtain subpoena powers to use during the course of an investigation, which officials said would strengthen the commission’s ability to determine the merits of discrimination complaints.

Commissioners discussed a wide range of topics during the 90 minute meeting, including:

  * Ralph Rosenberg, the commission’s executive director, said expected federal budget cuts of 10 to 12 percent and no expected increase in the money allocated from the state could stall the commission’s plans to hire more staff. “We want to reduce the backlog and improve the casework,” Rosenberg told commissioners on Thursday.

  * The need to educate commissioners, the public and the media about immigration laws and reform. A training session dubbed “Immigration 101″ will be held for commissioners, but no date has been set. An education coalition has been created to raise awareness about the issue, said Alicia Claypool, chairwoman.

  * The commission plans to name its offices at the Grimes State Office Building after Des Moines civil rights activist Edna Griffin, who died in 2000. A celebration is planned for July, which marks the 60th anniversary of Griffin’s battle with Katz Drug Store, which refused her service in 1948 because she was black. Griffin and other activists protested, and Griffin sued the store owner and won an Iowa Supreme Court case.

  * Commissioner Connie Gronstal told commissioners that she was dismayed by calls she received after the Iowa caucuses last week from women who told her that some men at the caucuses were vocal about not wanting “any woman in charge” in reference to presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. The calls showed “how insidious sexism is in our state particularly,” she said. “I think we’re going to hear a lot more about racism and sexism” during the presidential election, said Claypool.

Commissioners will meet with Iowa legislators during a legislative breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 28 at the State Capitol.

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. March 27 at the Grimes State Office Building.

(Photo: Clockwise from top left: AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Crystal Schrader, Ralph Rosenberg, Rick Morain, Rich Eychaner, Tim Tutt and Alicia Claypool.)