Cabinet-Level Unit on Rights Urged : Report by Former Officials Seeks Commitment From Bush

Citing what it called a “complete breakdown” of civil rights enforcement under the Reagan Administration, a group of former government civil rights officials Tuesday urged President-elect Bush to create a Cabinet-level task force to examine discrimination in housing, employment and education.

The report by the private Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights said that Bush should display his commitment to “a kinder, gentler nation” by taking direct action on civil rights in his first 100 days in office.

“For the last eight years, hope in the lives of minorities has been replaced by despair,” said commission Chairman Arthur Flemming, who was secretary of health, education and welfare during the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration. “Martin Luther King talked about ‘the urgency of now,’ and that is applicable to the situation that exists today.”

15 on Panel

The panel was composed of 15 former government officials who have been involved in civil rights issues. Members included former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall; former Atty. Gen. Elliot L. Richardson; William H. Brown III, former Equal Opportunity Commission chairman; and Father Theodore H. Hesburgh, president emeritus of Notre Dame University and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The group’s criticism follows similar harsh words about Reagan’s civil rights record by former Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and several other black leaders. Reagan and the Justice Department have sharply disputed the attacks.

Flemming, describing his panel’s concerns in a press conference, said that the establishment of a new civil rights task force led by Cabinet secretaries would help the new Administration “come to grips” with what he said is a widespread problem.

During the Reagan years, he charged, the Administration opposed measures that would have advanced civil rights and also failed to enforce laws that already exist.

“The 1980s have left a legacy of confusion about the commitment of the federal government to carry through with the promise of equality of opportunity,” the report says. It adds that there has been “persistent discrimination” in the United States in the last eight years.

With millions of instances of housing discrimination occurring each year, the report says, an average of only 10 new cases have been filed annually by the Justice Department since 1981.

The report also says that only 22 equal employment cases were referred to the federal government in 1986, down from 269 in 1980.

“When you look at the last eight years, you are almost appalled,” said commission member Brown. “The Justice Department (has) been whittling away at the hard won victories of the past.”

Justice Department spokesman Mark Weaver said that criticism of the department’s civil rights performance “boggles the mind. They are not looking at the facts.”

Weaver said that enforcement of civil rights legislation has been happening in “record numbers” and said that it is an area the department is “most proud of.”

He added that individual cases brought by the department in the last eight years have affected thousands of people. As an example, Weaver noted a voting rights case pending against Los Angeles County in August.

He added that the number of housing discrimination and equal employment cases filed has been low because the department does not have jurisdiction to file cases on behalf of individuals, but rather, only when there is a large pattern of discrimination.

Flemming said that more aggressive action is needed to curb discrimination.

Commenting on Reagan’s assertion last weekend that some civil rights leaders may be exaggerating the extent of discrimination to further their own careers, Flemming said, “This is why we have . . . the kind of dismal record of the last eight years.”

In an interview with “60 Minutes” Sunday night, Reagan said that unnamed black leaders “are doing very well” by “keeping alive the feeling that they’re the victims of prejudice.”