CIVIL RIGHTS: Bush appointment is really a step back for diversity
/President George W. Bush will surely hold up his appointment of
African-American attorney Gerald Reynolds to head the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights as another example of the diversity in
hisadministration. But there's no diversity beyond skin shade reflected
in the naming of the conservative Reynolds, an avowed foe of
affirmative action who has said that racial discrimination is generally
an overblownissue. As such, Reynolds is a questionable choice to head
an agency that was spawned by the civil rights movement and is charged
with serving as the government's conscience on issues of race and equal
opportunity. However, a conservative president is empowered to name
conservative appointees. Reynolds will certainly take the commission in
a direction more to the liking of a president, who has been
demonstrably tone deaf on civil rights issues. The commission's main
job is to investigate and to publicly highlight charges of racial
discrimination. It's hard to see Reynolds rushing to the cause. His
view of America is in direct conflict with that of large numbers of
urban, and increasingly suburban, minorities, people for whom
encounters of discrimination and racial bias are all too real.
Reynolds' selection is a double blow to civil rights because it follows
the departure of the commission's longtime chair, Mary Frances Berry.
She was critical of Bush and outspoken, passionate and independent
enough to tussle with both Democratic and Republican leaders during a
quarter-century on the panel. [more]
- A civil-rights throwback [more
