Diversity Gone from the HRC
I write this column with a great deal of ambivalence because it touches upon an explosive issue and also a philosophical conundrum. I begin with a simple statement—the Davis Human Relations Commission has since its inception been one of the most diverse bodies in this entire city. The last human relations commission had members from many different ethnicities—
The new human relations commission appears to be nearly completely white. That brings up the race issue and also brings up a philosophical question about the nature of representation.
Let me clarify right away—I do not believe the city council is racist. I’m not accusing anyone of racism. However, I do believe that the current city council majority created a climate that limited the number of applicants.
Let me also clearly state that I think there are some excellent members on the new commission. I have concerns about one of the members who had to resign due to a conflict of interest five years ago, but this entry is mainly about the charge of the HRC and its new membership.
This is a commission whose primary charge is to deal with issues of prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Can a mostly white body effectively address those concerns? That is a crucial question that gets to the nature of what representation is itself.
I do not wish to criticize the membership of a commission before they have met, but I believe there is a fundamental problem in the city of
Moreover, a white person in
The very problem that the HRC now faces is not racism by the City Council necessarily, but rather neglect. The City Council was in a great hurry to get rid of the former Latina-American chair because she chose to raise issues, but they did not do sufficient outreach in order to get a diverse pool of applicants on the commission. I doubt if they even considered what the make up would look like.
They got exactly ten applicants, two of whom became ex-officio/ non-voting members and one of whom is an alternate. The other seven are regular members. Why such a small pool of applicants? Because everyone saw what happened to the previous HRC and non one wanted to deal with the current council and their consolidation of power.
But the ultimate effect and we cannot lose site of this is an HRC where the majority of the members have never personally had to deal with prejudice and the majority of the members are white people. And that is a fundamental problem.
—Doug Paul Davis Reporting
well…
actually the prob now is the “Review Commission”, three people selected by the Davis “dictator” (by which I mean to say that the City manager has more power than the Council de facto, and that he is at the head of the administrative flow chart with an unwritten duty to protect his workers (the more so the longer CM serves, as he may have hired or promoted any given one of them).
After an incident with police in June 1987, where two officers entered a house I lived in, and when I returned to find them there refused either to leave or identify a cause, 15 minutes later claiming someone but they could not say who) called to report possible child abuse. I felt at the time, not finding drugs or stolen goods or weapons in the residence, they were looking for soething to pull out of a hat to arrest. Ten minutes later a Sgt. Zook showed up to pull them out.
I made a complaint and the department issued their usally ‘exonerates all’ white wash.
I made further complaint to then mayor Rosenberg, the council and CM. The uoshot was- they could do nothing.
At that time I began a letter campaign for a Review Commission with teeth.
I do think my noise about that got me on an enemies list at the PD and led to several more incidents (but that is soemthing to make a federal case of)
Davis has a sham Review Commission, and that is more important than the HRC now.
The first step to a REAL review Commission is to dump the three CM crony set-up in favor of one basd on each Councilmember selecting one person for the Commission. Someone from ASUCD should also be included, and I think a 17 year old, even if non voting, from the Blue Devil school should be selected. The omsbud, a good idea, should be ex officio.
But most importantly, no matter how a strategy is called “prfessional”, we need our employees to understand there will be zero tolerance for breaking the law.
sincerely
Mike Shepley
well…
actually the prob now is the “Review Commission”, three people selected by the Davis “dictator” (by which I mean to say that the City manager has more power than the Council de facto, and that he is at the head of the administrative flow chart with an unwritten duty to protect his workers (the more so the longer CM serves, as he may have hired or promoted any given one of them).
After an incident with police in June 1987, where two officers entered a house I lived in, and when I returned to find them there refused either to leave or identify a cause, 15 minutes later claiming someone but they could not say who) called to report possible child abuse. I felt at the time, not finding drugs or stolen goods or weapons in the residence, they were looking for soething to pull out of a hat to arrest. Ten minutes later a Sgt. Zook showed up to pull them out.
I made a complaint and the department issued their usally ‘exonerates all’ white wash.
I made further complaint to then mayor Rosenberg, the council and CM. The uoshot was- they could do nothing.
At that time I began a letter campaign for a Review Commission with teeth.
I do think my noise about that got me on an enemies list at the PD and led to several more incidents (but that is soemthing to make a federal case of)
Davis has a sham Review Commission, and that is more important than the HRC now.
The first step to a REAL review Commission is to dump the three CM crony set-up in favor of one basd on each Councilmember selecting one person for the Commission. Someone from ASUCD should also be included, and I think a 17 year old, even if non voting, from the Blue Devil school should be selected. The omsbud, a good idea, should be ex officio.
But most importantly, no matter how a strategy is called “prfessional”, we need our employees to understand there will be zero tolerance for breaking the law.
sincerely
Mike Shepley
well…
actually the prob now is the “Review Commission”, three people selected by the Davis “dictator” (by which I mean to say that the City manager has more power than the Council de facto, and that he is at the head of the administrative flow chart with an unwritten duty to protect his workers (the more so the longer CM serves, as he may have hired or promoted any given one of them).
After an incident with police in June 1987, where two officers entered a house I lived in, and when I returned to find them there refused either to leave or identify a cause, 15 minutes later claiming someone but they could not say who) called to report possible child abuse. I felt at the time, not finding drugs or stolen goods or weapons in the residence, they were looking for soething to pull out of a hat to arrest. Ten minutes later a Sgt. Zook showed up to pull them out.
I made a complaint and the department issued their usally ‘exonerates all’ white wash.
I made further complaint to then mayor Rosenberg, the council and CM. The uoshot was- they could do nothing.
At that time I began a letter campaign for a Review Commission with teeth.
I do think my noise about that got me on an enemies list at the PD and led to several more incidents (but that is soemthing to make a federal case of)
Davis has a sham Review Commission, and that is more important than the HRC now.
The first step to a REAL review Commission is to dump the three CM crony set-up in favor of one basd on each Councilmember selecting one person for the Commission. Someone from ASUCD should also be included, and I think a 17 year old, even if non voting, from the Blue Devil school should be selected. The omsbud, a good idea, should be ex officio.
But most importantly, no matter how a strategy is called “prfessional”, we need our employees to understand there will be zero tolerance for breaking the law.
sincerely
Mike Shepley
well…
actually the prob now is the “Review Commission”, three people selected by the Davis “dictator” (by which I mean to say that the City manager has more power than the Council de facto, and that he is at the head of the administrative flow chart with an unwritten duty to protect his workers (the more so the longer CM serves, as he may have hired or promoted any given one of them).
After an incident with police in June 1987, where two officers entered a house I lived in, and when I returned to find them there refused either to leave or identify a cause, 15 minutes later claiming someone but they could not say who) called to report possible child abuse. I felt at the time, not finding drugs or stolen goods or weapons in the residence, they were looking for soething to pull out of a hat to arrest. Ten minutes later a Sgt. Zook showed up to pull them out.
I made a complaint and the department issued their usally ‘exonerates all’ white wash.
I made further complaint to then mayor Rosenberg, the council and CM. The uoshot was- they could do nothing.
At that time I began a letter campaign for a Review Commission with teeth.
I do think my noise about that got me on an enemies list at the PD and led to several more incidents (but that is soemthing to make a federal case of)
Davis has a sham Review Commission, and that is more important than the HRC now.
The first step to a REAL review Commission is to dump the three CM crony set-up in favor of one basd on each Councilmember selecting one person for the Commission. Someone from ASUCD should also be included, and I think a 17 year old, even if non voting, from the Blue Devil school should be selected. The omsbud, a good idea, should be ex officio.
But most importantly, no matter how a strategy is called “prfessional”, we need our employees to understand there will be zero tolerance for breaking the law.
sincerely
Mike Shepley
I disagreed with some of the actions taken by the “old” Human Relations Commssion, however I always felt I understood the decision making process. Furthermore, the diversity of the commission membership was a good thing. I simply do not understand how a Davis Human Relations Commission can operate without some significant representation from the Hispanic populace. The Hispanic population is growing faster than any other group in Yolo County (and the State) and to leave them out of the Human Relations equation is a glaring problem.
The way that Yolo County aggressively goes after gangs will certainly have a negative impact on a number of kids in Davis. If the kids are really involved with gangs then I would go along with the progam, but I also know Davis Law Enforcement will make “mistakes” (or whatever) and most of the allegations will be false. I have read that the Yolo anti gang program is color/race blind, but it is obvious that Hispanics are the clear target.The overriding goal of making the community safe does not justify the arrest of a single innocent person. I guarantee young people will be falsely accused of being gang members and I hope someone will stand up for their rights.
I disagreed with some of the actions taken by the “old” Human Relations Commssion, however I always felt I understood the decision making process. Furthermore, the diversity of the commission membership was a good thing. I simply do not understand how a Davis Human Relations Commission can operate without some significant representation from the Hispanic populace. The Hispanic population is growing faster than any other group in Yolo County (and the State) and to leave them out of the Human Relations equation is a glaring problem.
The way that Yolo County aggressively goes after gangs will certainly have a negative impact on a number of kids in Davis. If the kids are really involved with gangs then I would go along with the progam, but I also know Davis Law Enforcement will make “mistakes” (or whatever) and most of the allegations will be false. I have read that the Yolo anti gang program is color/race blind, but it is obvious that Hispanics are the clear target.The overriding goal of making the community safe does not justify the arrest of a single innocent person. I guarantee young people will be falsely accused of being gang members and I hope someone will stand up for their rights.
I disagreed with some of the actions taken by the “old” Human Relations Commssion, however I always felt I understood the decision making process. Furthermore, the diversity of the commission membership was a good thing. I simply do not understand how a Davis Human Relations Commission can operate without some significant representation from the Hispanic populace. The Hispanic population is growing faster than any other group in Yolo County (and the State) and to leave them out of the Human Relations equation is a glaring problem.
The way that Yolo County aggressively goes after gangs will certainly have a negative impact on a number of kids in Davis. If the kids are really involved with gangs then I would go along with the progam, but I also know Davis Law Enforcement will make “mistakes” (or whatever) and most of the allegations will be false. I have read that the Yolo anti gang program is color/race blind, but it is obvious that Hispanics are the clear target.The overriding goal of making the community safe does not justify the arrest of a single innocent person. I guarantee young people will be falsely accused of being gang members and I hope someone will stand up for their rights.
I disagreed with some of the actions taken by the “old” Human Relations Commssion, however I always felt I understood the decision making process. Furthermore, the diversity of the commission membership was a good thing. I simply do not understand how a Davis Human Relations Commission can operate without some significant representation from the Hispanic populace. The Hispanic population is growing faster than any other group in Yolo County (and the State) and to leave them out of the Human Relations equation is a glaring problem.
The way that Yolo County aggressively goes after gangs will certainly have a negative impact on a number of kids in Davis. If the kids are really involved with gangs then I would go along with the progam, but I also know Davis Law Enforcement will make “mistakes” (or whatever) and most of the allegations will be false. I have read that the Yolo anti gang program is color/race blind, but it is obvious that Hispanics are the clear target.The overriding goal of making the community safe does not justify the arrest of a single innocent person. I guarantee young people will be falsely accused of being gang members and I hope someone will stand up for their rights.