WHO WE ARE

THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES
HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION

Our Core Values and How We Uphold Them

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to define our identity and to clarify our unique role as a vital spoke in the wheel of municipal government, as we move ever forward determined to improve the life of each and every Angeleno as a result of our constant attention to their needs, and the innovative ways by which we help them to surmount many of the challenges that they encounter on a daily basis.

How The Human Relations Commission Has Evolved

In the aftermath of the "Los Angeles Riots" in 1965, which devastated a large segment of Watts and its environs, California's then Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown appointed an investigative body led by John J. McCone.

In an attempt to prevent our City from ever again exploding in wholesale violence, the "McCone Commission" not only examined the root causes of that tragic outburst of civil unrest but its members made a number of significant recommendations. Among other things, they urged the Mayor of Los Angeles and the City Council to establish a permanent Human Relations Commission.

Thus, it is not at all surprising that its initial efforts focused exclusively on developing the means which would guarantee that racial harmony could be ensured via understanding why a gap separated Caucasian and African American Angelenos and then determining what could be done programmatically to help close this "great divide."

To analyze that which occurred during the next 34 years, in 1999 Professor Philip J. Ethington - he currently chairs our Academic Advisory Board - and Jimenez y West wrote a document, which they titled, Challenge of Intergroup Relations: A Historical and Comparative Evaluation of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission, 1966-1998.

In that text, they wrote: "We have found a) that "human relations" is an organized approach to intergroup relations, intergroup conflict resolution, and intergroup justice rooted firmly within the specific trajectories of race relations. More specifically, it is rooted in major metropolitan race riots, which prompted the formation of the field of "human relations," originally a euphemism for "race relations."

They continued: "b) The clarity with which HRCs have approached the problem of intergroup relations has been closely linked to the political history and patterns in social scientific thought about race relations. Patterns in both of these areas (the politics and the social science of intergroup relations) since the 1960s have lured HRCs away from their home domain in race-ethnic intergroup relations, and into a methodological wilderness without grounding in the rich traditions of social theory and research."

They then declared: "c) So long as HRCs remain focused on intergroup relations as their core problem, evaluation of their performance is possible. d) Evaluation of HRCs should be undertaken according to a model of activity organized by four standard categories, drawn from the political science of governmental administration: (1) Research; (2) Policymaking; (3) Intervention; (4) Evaluation."

The authors proffered six "principal recommendations" in their paper. They wrote: "The Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission should:

1. Remain focused on intergroup conflict, intergroup injustice and intergroup relations.
2. Revolve around the four basic activities of Research, Policymaking, Interventions and Evaluation.
3. Conduct systematic monitoring of intergroup relations.
4. Maintain a solid, visible presence within various neighborhoods of the city.
5. Establish a permanent relationship with social scientists based in Los Angeles-area universities.
6. Seek a stronger legal mandate and have it embedded in the City Charter."

They concluded: "The bottom line of this Report is that, for the sake of Los Angeles, one of the most diverse and potentially conflictual metropolises in the Northern Hemisphere, the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission must be given a new, more focused life, and be strengthened with more concrete powers."

Leaping Ahead To Where We Are Today

In Los Angeles at the beginning of this new century, there are multiple reasons why "differences" cause people to feel alienated from one another.

Whereas it may have been primarily a matter of race that separated one Angeleno from another some three or four decades ago, today - because ours has become one of the world's most diverse cities - individuals and groups have chosen, for a number of reasons, to erect emotional barriers, which keep them isolated, sometimes fearful, and usually disinterested in interacting with "others" who are "different."

Among other factors, a person's country of origin, gender, economic status, age, educational background, and even where one lives and/or works, affects that individual's societal attitudes and behavioral patterns.

Realizing that there exists a certain toxic phenomenon, which is prompted by a self-imposed Balkanization, and that it is potentially dangerous, because it stands in the way of a dynamic, holistic, long-lasting community emerging, the Human Relations Commission is relying upon those principals of fact-finding, collaboration and engagement, and others - which were first articulated by Professors Ethington and Jimenez y West - to broaden and deepen our influence throughout Los Angeles.

As tireless advocates of human justice, we are creatively and responsibly concentrating our resources on three particular areas of concern. Here they are, and these are some of our activities within each category:

• Community Safety

  Among other responsibilities - and epitomizing our interest in establishing and nurturing reliable collaborative partnerships - we are currently facilitating the City/County Juvenile Justice Task Force and its Community Advisory Engagement Committee, the Watts Gang Task Force and the Harbor Gateway Collaborative, while actively participating in the Cadillac Robertson Collaborative, the Westside Gang Task Force, the Crenshaw Dorsey Safety Collaborative, the Bethel Cease Fire Collaborative, the Attorney General's Safe Passages Collaborative, the South Los Angeles Safety Collaborative and the Markham Middle School Initiative.

  Also, we are rendering assistance to LAUSD's Human Relations and Educational Equity Cadre and making ourselves available to any school where our facilitation services and training efforts may help to mitigate the possibility of violence breaking out and doing considerable harm at these centers of learning.

  And, at the request of the Police Department, we often monitor public demonstrations, marches and protests to help keep all participants constitutionally secure and safe.

• Civic Engagement

  We are busily engaged in doing pioneering work building and strengthening the concept of "community," as we encourage and train people on ways to invest their time and energy to enhance life in Los Angeles by means of their being actively involved as leaders in those causes, which will better the human condition for all Angelenos.

  We promote civic participation by identifying potential leaders and offering them training opportunities to help them effectively connect with members of their own and with other communities.

  In addition, we provide curriculum development and then instruction for the benefit of other City departments that are anxious to expand their roster of leaders; e.g., at the Board of Public Works. Elsewhere, via the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, we are working with many Neighborhood Councils in building their internal capacity while promoting the concept of inclusiveness.

  Simultaneously, we have joined other agencies in offering to assist Angelenos when the horrors of any natural or man-made disaster may occur.

• Intergroup Relations

  We have created and are now facilitating several significant groups that have well defined mandates; e.g., a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Advisory Council, a Middle East Task Force, as well as its University Students Advisory Board, and an Advisory Group on Immigrant Affairs.

  In addition, we provide technical assistance and education to Fire Department personnel and to a growing number of other City departments, which wish to realign their "culture," by designing and then implementing learning experiences intended to rid these agencies - and ultimately Los Angeles-at-large - of bias, hate and prejudice.

  Meanwhile, we are working with immigrant groups and in a host of underserved communities where we are promoting wholesome human relationships, leadership development, and cultural competency, while helping to burnish vocational training and occupational opportunities for adults and young people, who are committed to being economically independent and personally secure.

Conclusion

From the very inception of the Human Relations Commission, and now (as perhaps never before) our goal is to do everything possible to lead the way and to work with others, who join us in striving to ultimately enter into a time when Los Angeles will be free of crisis and violence, so that every person, who resides here, may raise up successive generations to be compassionate, productive and responsible.

After all, as our mandate declares, we are obligated to "assist in assuring to all people the opportunity for full and equal participation in the affairs of City government and to promote the general welfare and safety of all residents in the Los Angeles community through activities and programs designed to reduce discrimination, tension and violence, and to advance improved intergroup relations (by supporting) efforts to create a city free of racism and violence, (so) residents may live and work in an environment of respect, mutual understanding and human diversity."

February 6, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 15, 2008 - Rabbi Allen I. Freehling