Council to address local discrimination
By Joseph Liss | November 29, 2011Charlottesville City Council will consider a proposal next Monday for the creation of a new human rights commission to address concerns about fair housing and employment and to potentially enforce a new local anti-discrimination policy. The proposal came from discussions within the Dialogue on Race, a committee which has been meeting regularly since 2009 to discuss discrimination issues in Charlottesville, said Walt Heinecke, a member of the committee and associate professor of education at the University's Education School. The proposed commission will make permanent the work of the Dialogue on Race and try to enforce anti-discrimination laws "primarily on skin color," Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said. Several nonprofit organizations agree there is a need for a commission but have a different vision for what the commission should look like. "We think there is a real need ... to acknowledge that problems around fair housing and [fair employment] exist," said Joe Szakos, executive director for Virginia Organizing, an activist group which encourages grassroots participation in local issues.
