Time to revive national civil rights commission

Prosecutors in the Trayvon Martin case — Trayvon was the young African American shot to death on the streets in Sanford, Fla., by a self-appointed community watch volunteer — have decided not to send the case to the grand jury, even while announcing the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, according to statistics compiled by Kali Akuno and Arlene Eisen on behalf of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Black Left Unity Network and the US Human Rights Network, police or private security people have slain 17 other African Americans since Trayvon’s death. Across the country, people are questioning the promise of “liberty and justice for all.”

Fundamental questions need to be answered about “stand and defend laws” — more accurately, “free pass for murder laws” — about racially skewed school-discipline practices (Trayvon had been suspended and was visiting his father when he was shot); about a criminal justice system still rife with bias, and about the dangers of “walking while black” in America. The man who shot Trayvon needs to be tried in court. But these broader issues require independent, forceful investigation.

So where is the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights? Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican president, created the bipartisan commission in 1957 to investigate the facts and issue credible reports on progress or challenges in our civil rights laws and practices. It was, as early director Theodore Hesburgh stated, to be the “conscience of the nation” on our progress in civil rights.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/11798338-452/time-to-revive-national-civil-rights-commission.html