Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Macomb to get anti-bias program

Michigan will give residents platform to voice complaints about racism in the county.

By Tony Manolatos and Gene Schabath / The Detroit News

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The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is launching a historic program that gives residents an opportunity to voice complaints with a civil rights representative stationed in Macomb County.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the state, is in response to concerns about discrimination and racial tensions in the predominantly white community, said Harold Core, spokesman for the agency charged with enforcing the state Civil Rights Act.

The announcement Tuesday came two days before a scheduled protest at the county administration building by the Ministerial Alliance, a group of black pastors that persuaded the county to overhaul its hiring practices last year.

"Obviously, civil rights is an important area and to the extent that the issues are out there, either real or perceived, it's important for people to be heard by the state and hopefully have their issues resolved," said Mount Clemens attorney David Viviano.

The state program starts Monday at the Mount Clemens Public Library. State civil rights department representative Janet Dillard will be at the library the third Monday of each month from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to field complaints.

Phil Frame, spokesman for the county Board of Commissioners, said the initiative could be beneficial, but he disputed assertions that there is widespread racial dissension in the county.

"We can only deal with issues that people are willing to discuss, and this is a good way to get these complaints out in the open and discussed properly," Frame said.

The civil rights agency is investigating complaints in Macomb and elsewhere, Core said. Macomb County government has a work force of 2,398 with 196, or 8.2 percent of them, minority, Frame said. The county has a minority population of 7.3 percent.

An NAACP official has called Macomb's search for a new director to run its youth home "racist." Frame disputes that assertion.

The ministerial alliance "has advocated for a leveling of the playing field and more of a blind process relative to employment," alliance president the Rev. D. L. Bradley said in a statement.

You can reach Tony Manolatos at (313) 222-2069 or tmanolatos@detnews.com.