[E]ven as senators supported new solutions for addressing “systemic racism” in Vermont, they stumbled on a vexing question Wednesday afternoon.
Should “persons of color” be a mandatory part of the state’s racial justice reform efforts?
The bill, S.281, which received preliminary approval Wednesday in the Senate, creates a new, cabinet-level position and an advisory panel to help root out and address racism in state government. It also says three of that panel’s members must be non-white.
Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, argued that such a provision was discriminatory. Echoing Martin Luther King Jr., Brock – who is black – declared that “we should appoint people on the basis of the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”
Brock received some support, but he was overruled by those who said the state should ensure that minorities are involved in the discussion.
“We are looking at systems that affect people of color in negative ways,” said Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham. “It is important to hear their voices.”
The issue of racism in state institutions made headlines earlier this year when the Vermont Human Rights Commission said there had been multiple racist incidents at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin.
Among other findings, the commission ruled that the Department of Mental Health had discriminated against a hospital employee who said she had been subjected to “repeated hostile, offensive and racist comments and actions by her co-workers and patients.”
Subsequently, the state Human Resources Department disclosed that there had been 35 complaints and investigations pertaining to racial discrimination or harassment by state employees over the past five years.
State Human Resources Commissioner Beth Fastiggi last month said state administrators “take each complaint seriously” and had implemented trainings and programs aimed at curbing discrimination and encouraging diversity.
Still, there was only 3.7 percent minority representation in the state workforce in fiscal year 2017. That was a slight improvement from fiscal year 2014, when the percentage was 3.2 percent.
S.281 seeks to “promote racial justice reform throughout the state by mitigating systemic racism in all systems of state government and creating a culture of inclusiveness.”
Its chief mechanism is a new position – chief civil rights officer – in the executive branch.
The bill “gives the officer the powers and duties of the governor’s cabinet while keeping that position independent of the cabinet,” said Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland and vice chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee.
The chief civil rights officer would “oversee a comprehensive organizational review to identify systemic racism in each of the three branches of state government” and then work to gather data and address those issues.
The civil rights officer would be appointed by a five-member Civil Rights Advisory Panel, which also would work with the officer to implement reforms. There would be no legislators on that panel, though members should “have experience working to implement racial justice reform,” the bill says.
The legislation also says the council should “represent geographically diverse areas of the state.” Additionally, “at least three members shall be persons of color.”
That latter provision touched off a debate about the appropriateness of mandating diversity.
Brock introduced an amendment saying advisory panel membership should “reflect a variety of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and perspectives, be racially diverse and represent geographically diverse areas of the state.” But it also said “appointments shall be made in a nondiscriminatory manner.”
“I believe it’s wrong, particularly for a state position – a paid position in state government – to indicate that it can only be filled by persons of a certain race,” Brock said. “That, to me, is absolutely repugnant to the idea of justice and equity.”
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, said he found the bill’s language regarding the panel’s makeup “somewhat disturbing.”
“You don’t develop a panel to examine systemic racial biases by establishing a panel that has systemic racial biases,” Benning said.
He added that “it does set up a precedent for future legislation that might leave us in a very bad position.”
But a majority of senators disagreed. “It’s simply a matter of listening to the people who are most directly affected,” said Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden and the bill’s original sponsor.
White, who chairs the Senate Government Operations Committee that endorsed the bill, said her committee was satisfied that the panel-membership language is constitutional and necessary.
“I as a white person might not see a particular policy, procedure or practice as allowing or even promoting racism,” White said. “As a state, we have begun to look at implicit bias – bias that is so much a part of who we are that we don’t even know it’s there.”
“So yes, in this case, people of color do have more insight into the systems that we’re talking about,” she added.
Senators voted 18-12 to defeat Brock’s amendment and subsequently voted to give S.281 preliminary approval. One more vote is needed before the bill goes to the House.
