Enforcing Civil Rights Laws

Your editorial “A Serving of Justice at Denny’s” (May 27) was right on the mark concerning the need to vigorously enforce civil rights laws. No pun intended, but the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department hit a “grand slam.”

As important as the Denny’s case may be from a legal perspective, there is a larger, unenforceable issue to be considered: the obligation we all have to be responsible citizens. Obligations imply a moral, not merely a legal, command. Criminal laws punish stealing, but not a lack of generosity. They penalize the man who uses his hand as a weapon, but not the man who fails to extend it in help. In the case of civil rights, the law can enforce their observance, but not their respect.

So the real lesson learned from the Denny’s case is that 30 years after the passage of our most important civil rights laws discrimination still exists. Only when we accept the full equality and dignity of each individual can we fulfill the promise of America, and create an awareness of something that is higher and more sensitive than any requirement of the law.

JOHN M. BARBIERI

San Pedro

* We applaud your story on the federal civil rights suit against Denny’s restaurants (“Denny’s Restaurants Settle Bias Suits for $54 Million,” May 25). These suits are important because they do affect public perceptions and private behaviors, and redress is provided for individuals wronged. But it’s not enough.

Your story says that Denny’s will be required to “train its employees in racial sensitivity”; but is it the quick Band-Aid approach that’s going to be acceptable to the court? We must strive harder to change American corporate culture to show the harmfulness and the wrongfulness of such discrimination--and it’s all the staff of these companies who must understand that it’s harmful and wrong. Meaningful cross-cultural human relations training must be done in a serious and systematic way to be truly effective.

We must begin to see that a fight for fairness and equal opportunity/access must be waged in every workplace setting.

JIM HILVERT, Executive Director

National Conference of Christians & Jews

Los Angeles