Activist Chosen to Lead Human Relations Panel

Mayor Richard Riordan on Monday named Joe Hicks, a well-known local civil rights leader, as director of the city’s Human Relations Commission.

Hicks, a former leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, now runs the Los Angeles Multicultural Collaborative, a nonprofit consortium of community and civil rights organizations. He is widely respected as a voice on civil rights issues, with admirers in both political parties and on various sides of the city’s often-byzantine ethnic politics.

“Joe’s strong relationship with local human relations agencies, community-based civil rights and labor groups, elected officials and policymakers will be a tremendous asset to the city,” Riordan said in announcing Hicks’ nomination.