OUR VIEW: A human relations commission for individuals (vote in poll)
Colorado Springs hasn’t had a Human Relations Commission since 1995, when the City Council disbanded it.
Today, a group of concerned citizens are doing a great job persuading the Colorado Springs City Council to sanction a new Human Relations Commission of volunteers. The commission would have no authority or enforcement powers. It would do little more than provide assistance, mediation and reconciliation services for parties who seek such help. It would also try to advocate for residents who claim potentially credible human rights violations and would give a voice to the poor and disenfranchised. Advocates of the idea claim it would “improve the quality of life of Colorado Springs.” They say they need no budget or staff.
A majority on Council have expressed support.
Human rights result from extraordinary human relations. People who genuinely love humanity, who seek to help those around them, seldom violate the rights of others by treating them poorly on a basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or even political orientation. So it’s hard to imagine how a voluntary board, one genuinely devoted to improving human relations, could go wrong.
There are some concerns, however. A human relations commission, if not properly directed, can become a tool for people who simply want to whine and complain and stir up needless controversy. It can become a source of contention, rather than a tool for resolution.
Another concern is the potential of a voluntary, unfunded, nonstaffed commission quickly growing into a money-sucking bureaucracy staffed with professionals.
A third concern involves the fact advocates of this board express a desire to address poverty — on the surface a laudable endeavor. They say 19 percent of the city’s population lives at or below the federal poverty level. If the board intends to make life better for the poor, wish them well. Too often, however, those who fret about poverty statistics end up improving the statistic and not the lives of those who are poor. In too many Colorado cities, concerns about the poor have resulted in gentrification projects that run the poor off to other cities. Boulder has gone out of its way to enact policies that long ago ran the middle class and the poor out of town. The city has enviable poverty statistics, but it has done nothing to help the poor.
Because Colorado Springs tolerates the poor, and doesn’t banish them with exclusionary policies, the city’s poverty statistics are relatively high. It would be a shame if this were to change in order to create an illusion of prosperity.
(Tell City Council how you feel by voting in the poll to the right, in red type. Must vote to see results. Thanks!)
If the City Council sanctions this commission, it should do so with expectations that it would promote better human relations for all in Colorado Springs: the rich, the poor, all races and ethnic groups, the religious, the nonreligious, men, women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered residents. It should be a commission that plays no favorites. It should defend basic property rights with the same vigor it defends the gay rights. It should work to resolve the neighborhood disputes that get so messy in the Springs.
It may be wise for the council to bless a human relations commission. But it should do so only if convinced the commission will put the freedoms of individuals above all collectivist concerns. Our city doesn’t need a board that promotes popular group-think agendas by cloaking them in the cause of human relations. But we could use a board that promotes and defends human rights by enhancing the community's human relations skills.
— Wayne Laugesen , editorial page editor, for the editorial board. Friend him on Facebook
