The Third Day at the LCHR

Another day and week has gone by, and I did more work for the LCHR. However, I was not at the LCHR this particular Thursday because I had to fly out for a graduate school interview at the University Kentucky for a spot within the Patterson Schoool of Diplomacy and International  Commerce.

While on the plane, I look over information about the history of the LCHR and civil/human rights within the city of Lincoln. Though I did not have internet, I was able to read over the mission and goals of the LCHR:

Mission

• The administration of the Human Rights Division supports the enforcement of all provisions of Title 11 of the Lincoln Municipal Code. To receive, settle, conciliate, investigate, issue findings, hold public hearings on complaints alleging discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin, familial status, age, ancestry, marital status, and retaliation. To perform functions and activities with community groups, businesses, schools, and governmental entities for the purpose of promoting understanding between races, cultures, and sexes, and to work to eliminate inequalities and sources of inter-racial friction.
• Review all City of Lincoln procurement bids and awards in excess of $10,000.
• Review DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) program of minority and women-owned businesses and maintain directory.

Goals

To eliminate and prevent all forms of illegal discrimination, to assure and foster equal opportunity for all citizens of the City, and to act in all matters within its jurisdiction.

Significant Accomplishments

• The City of Lincoln Commission on Human Rights continues to upgrade its complaint processing in order to protect an individual's state and federal rights.
• A complete review and implementation of changes in the Contract Compliance Program for the purpose of streamlining and effectuating its mandate.
• Obtained a Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) grant contract for all Title VII, Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaints.

Projected Changes

• Expand educational outreach into our elementary schools.
• Solidify the development of a Friends of the Commission, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which will support educational outreach in the community

Since its formation in in 1969, the LCHR has heard hundreds of cases over the last 42 years. I hope people that do face discrimination know about this wonderful resource provided by the City of Lincoln.

First day of Work at the LCHR

This is my first journal entry about my internship with the Human Rights Commission of Lincoln (Lincoln Commission on Human Rights - LCHR). I initiated the internship when I knew that I was going to take this course for my Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs minor. Though this is technically is my second day at the office, I truly started doing work today.

Before I write about my experience and the things I learned today, I would like to write a little bit of information about the Commission and what the people do for people in Lincoln. LCHR is charged with the mission of investigating complaints of discrimination, striving to prevent all forms of illegal discrimination and to assure and foster equal opportunity for all citizens of the City. The LCHR also provides community education and assistance in order for people to know and understand their rights and responsibilities under the law. The jurisdiction of the Commission is only within Lincoln. I also learned that the LCHR hosts one of the largest Civil Rights conferences in the Midwest every year.

As for my duties, I am responsible for displaying the records of the LCHR in their annual report to the city, creating a historical timeline of civil rights in Lincoln for the LCHR’s city outreach on television, and interviewing individuals who come in with discrimination complaints.

The first couple weeks are dedicated to the annual report, and I think it is interesting to learn about the discrimination cases conducted by the LCHR. Here are the facts I have recorded for the 2010 year.

In 2010, 91 complaints were recorded. 34 were male, 56 were female, and 1 complaint was made by a family. As for ethnic and national origins represented, there are 17 Blacks, 7 Hispanics, 1 Iraqi, 2 Biracial, 2 Asians, 1 Cuban, 1 Croatian/Serb, 1 Honduran, 1 Guatamalan, 5 Mexicans, and 48 Whites. As for the number of complaint topics, there are 18 Age, 33 Race, 27 Retaliation, 22 Disability, 32 Sex, 4 Color, 2 Marital Status, 23 National Origin, 4 Religion, and 5 Familial Status related complaints made by 91 clients. On average, there are 5 to 7 complaints of discrimination recorded by the LCHR per month. Lastly, there are three areas the LCHR deals with for discrimination: employment, housing, and public accommodation.

After my first day at the office, I started to make a lot of connections between human/civil rights on a local city level with human rights on an international level. Though there are a number of complaints made by individuals, only a small fraction of those complaints are upheld by the Commissioners during their monthly hearing. This reminded me of how the European Court of Human Rights also upholds a small fraction of cases despite the number they address within an year.

I look forward to going back and learning more from my advisors about their thoughts on human rights as well as experience the work of real human/civil rights issues.

My second day at the LCHR

Today, I continued my work on the annual report of the Lincoln Commission of Human Rights for the City of Lincoln (City Council). The report will mostly have statistical information about the LCHR for the last ten years with specific information about their work for the year of 2010.

I counted and recorded the number of open and closed cases, and I added all the demographic information as well.

The afternoon was not very exciting because it involved me spending consecutive hours in front of a computer, creating graphs and other charts for the City Council.

However, I ended the afternoon talking with Margie, one of my supervisors, about the relationship of civil/human rights in Lincoln in relation to human rights on an international level. When talking with Margie, I learned that there are many parallels to the city of Lincoln and human rights around. I was amazed at how the number of cases closed every year only a small fraction are actually deemed to have sufficient proof for the complainant. This reminded me of my knowledge of the European Court of Human Rights because even though they hear numerous cases, only a small fraction actually have sufficient proof to uphold the complainant's claim about a civil/human rights abuse.

Margie and I talked for an extra thirty minutes past 5pm, and I walked away from the office feeling like I was playing a part in the larger picture of Universal Human Rights right here in Lincoln, NE. (even if it's in front of a computer)  =)