Civil rights commission: A bad start
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
(KRT) - The following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

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Gerald A. Reynolds, the new chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, comes to his new post with question marks over his head and a big credibility problem. He has worked for conservative think tanks that have promoted dismantling programs that help minorities succeed in college. Critics also say he didn't push hard enough for aggressive enforcement of the law when he headed the civil rights office at the Education Department.

Conservatives praise Reynolds, 41, as a man who will bring a new perspective to civil rights. But other groups, such as the National Women's Law Center, worry that his public statements and actions suggested he was committed to undoing some programs, including Title IX. At one point, when Reynolds headed the Education Department's civil rights division, the Bush administration set up a panel to look at possible changes in Title IX in reaction to complaints that the law was leading to cutbacks in men's athletic programs. Following a public outcry, the administration backed away from its review.

The son of a New York City police officer, Reynolds earned his law degree from Boston University. After leaving Washington he settled in Kansas City, Mo., where he became a regulatory lawyer for Great Plains Energy Inc. He denies critics' charges about dismantling Title IX, and he says the commission will continue its watchdog role of insisting that civil rights laws are enforced. But he says he intends to expand the agency's mission by focusing more on community issues, such as lost opportunities that occur when young males push themselves out of the mainstream by engaging in violent behavior and when the career choices of young urban dwellers are limited because schools aren't properly preparing them for the world of work.

In fact, the panel has plenty to do without Reynolds' efforts to expand its responsibilities beyond traditional civil rights problems. An example of a traditional discrimination problem needing attention is the rising number of workplace complaints being filed by women. It's also worth mentioning that the outgoing chair of the commission, Mary Frances Berry, urged the president to make a stronger commitment to civil rights. A recent commission report said some rights problems had worsened during President George W. Bush's first term, included racial profiling, voter disenfranchisement and environmental racism.

One sign of the baggage that comes with Reynolds is the fact that he failed to win Senate confirmation to head the rights office in the Education Department. During a contentious Senate committee hearing, during which he was grilled on his opposition to affirmative action and his commitment to Title IX, there was doubt about whether his nomination could win Senate approval. Bush then appointed Reynolds during a congressional recess. This episode is the most telling evidence yet that the president should have nominated someone capable of helping the nation build consensus on civil rights issues.

© 2005, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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The civil rights baton:
"It's been passed to conservatives who insist they have a better way".

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Now that President Bush has succeeded in turning over control of the once influential U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to fellow conservatives, let's see what happens.Will progress toward wiping out the vestiges of racism and discrimination improve, as Bush seems to think it could, or will it slip backward?

The commission's chair, Mary Frances Berry, who has been a thorn in the side of Democratic and Republican presidents on civil rights issues for more than two decades, abruptly resigned last week. Her departure came just a week after she released a report that strongly criticized the Bush administration's civil rights policies.Named by Bush to chair the commission was Gerald A. Reynolds, a black conservative who opposes affirmative action. With longtime affirmative action foe Abigail Thernstrom as his vice chair, the pair will preside over a commission strongly dominated by conservatives.The 41-year-old Reynolds has indicated that improving academic achievement among African-American students will be given priority attention. That's a reasonable approach to addressing widening disparities. But at the same time, Reynolds can't overlook existence of discrimination in the workplace or at voting precincts.The likelihood of that happening on the Kansas City lawyer's watch makes unsettling his mission to update what he describes as an outmoded civil rights commission