In the fight against discrimination, the front line is often the desk of Bridget Owens.
“I’m the primary person who takes complaints from people who feel they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly in Onondaga County,” Owens said.
Owens is the only human rights specialist at the Syracuse/Onondaga County Human Rights Commission and also serves as the office’s primary investigator. The Commission is a 45-year-old government agency that grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It operates on a small budget of $300,000 from county and city government for its staff of four. In addition, 24 commissioners appointed by the county and city oversee its work.
Its mission, says its new director, Julius Edwards, is “a daunting task.”
The Commission gets 3,000 complaints of discrimination a year. It investigates the complaints, mediates disputes, offers training in dealing sensitively with those who often face discrimination, and advocates for public policy changes to prevent discrimination.
“You need to hold the institutions of power accountable,” said Mark Spadafore, an organizer for the Service Employees International Union Local 1199 and chair of the 24 commissioners.
The Commission also tries to change attitudes and stereotypes. “We have to continue to gnaw away at it,” Edwards, the director, said. “It is the work to embrace the very unique differences that are inherent within our individual cultures.”
In the 1960s civil rights movement, Malchester Reeves, the first black man elected to public office in Syracuse, pushed for the establishment of a Human Rights Commission in Onondaga County. In 1964 the Commission was established as a vehicle for investigating civil rights violations.
Now, the office staff mainly works to field complaints of human rights violations within the city and county, say commissioners and staff members. The most common complaints are accusations of employment discrimination, disability discrimination, or unfair law enforcement practices, commission officials say.
As the complaints come across her desk, Owens, the human rights specialist, sometimes steers callers to other offices for help. Sometimes she can only listen and commiserate. Many callers, Owens said, have “very bad things happen to them.” But those troubles don’t always mean a human rights law has been broken, said Owens.
But other cases require more attention and investigation.
For example, Owens recalled a recent case of a two young women came to town for a summit on legalizing gay marriage. At the hotel, Owens said, the women were “treated terribly” and were “given a dirty room.”
As she investigated the complaint, Owens said, she was able to mediate for the young women with the hotel and helped them get a new room and better service. Through the mediation, Owens said, she also discovered the hotel had nothing in its policies and procedures to deal with similar situations. She was able to help change these policies up to the corporate level, Owens said.
Among other projects, Owens said, the Commission is also working to create a junior human rights commission for young people. Another goal, she said, is developing a curriculum to teach about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues for students and teachers in the Syracuse City School District.
“We aren’t necessarily going to be big enough and strong enough to make all the changes ourselves. But we are at least able to turn the light on to the problems,” Owens said. “And once we click the light on with partnerships and collaborations, we will be able to start making the changes we need to make.”
(Jason Tarr is a senior with triple majors in broadcast journalism, international relations and Spanish.)
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