In his blistering attack on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights under the leadership of former chairman Mary Frances Berry, George F. Will [op-ed, March 11] obviously did not use as sources the untold numbers of people who have confronted racial discrimination, gender bias and other violations of equal-opportunity laws.
At the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, we hear the stories about discrimination experienced by members of our 185 affiliated organizations and the millions of constituents they represent across the country. These constituents include racial and ethnic minorities, women, people with disabilities, seniors and many others whose realities defy Mr. Will's dismissive assertions.
Mr. Will seems to prefer to rely on the analysis of new commission chairman Gerald A. Reynolds, who has made clear his blindness to our country's struggle to overcome a legacy of racism and discrimination.
Mr. Will is unqualified to speak on the subject of equal justice until he listens to the people whose perspectives are shaped by a firsthand reality.
WADE HENDERSON
Executive Director
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Washington
•
George F. Will's call to dismantle the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights may help to explain President Bush's cynical decision to appoint Gerald A. Reynolds as the commission's chairman. Why else appoint a critic of civil rights laws to the body charged with safeguarding such protections?
Mr. Will said that Mr. Reynolds "became head of the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the first President Bush." Mr. Reynolds never worked for George H.W. Bush. He served briefly at the OCR after his recess appointment in 2002 by the current president -- a move that bypassed near-certain rejection by the Senate. Without this maneuvering, Mr. Reynolds's resumé would consist largely of his practice as a corporate and public-interest lawyer and his association with think tanks that have attacked affirmative action, the Americans With Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws.
Because roughly 60 percent of all discrimination complaints that the OCR investigates involve students with disabilities, hundreds of disability organizations joined civil rights groups in opposing Mr. Reynolds's appointment. Our coalition was alarmed by his claims during testimony -- before the same commission that he will chair -- that the ADA would "retard economic development in urban centers across the country." He also served as legal counsel at the Center for Equal Opportunity, which repeatedly has attacked the ADA and pushed efforts to weaken this crucial law.
JIM WARD
Founder and President
ADA Watch/National Coalition
for Disability Rights
Washington
