Civil Rights

In an effort to reignite the conversation about civil rights in the Madison area, the Madison Department of Civil Rights (DCR) is joining the alders at the Municipal Building on August 4th at 5:45 to demonstrate the impact each person has on the progress of civil rights.
 
Members of local Madison governance will band together to try to move a wall which will symbolize persistent discrimination. When they are unable to move the barrier individually, all will join together to move it collectively and thus knock it down. Their efforts will symbolize each point of progress, and will be preserved on the board using paint to permanently symbolize the need for each individual point of impact to bring about change.
 
“DCR is a great resource to people who want to change the way that Madison looks at equality,” according to Norman Davis. “We’re here to continue the effort to end discrimination in our community and ensure that ‘equal rights’ really does mean Equal Rights.”
 
The Department of Civil Rights offers investigative services when presented with a report of discrimination in three areas: Employment, Housing, and Public Accommodation; these instances of discrimination can apply to any variation of protected classes, a full list of which may be viewed on DCR’s website.
 
“You’d be surprised at how many different protected classes people apply to,” says investigator Annie Weatherby-Flowers. “Each of us has at least 11 different protected classes under our personality, even though we don’t even know it.”
 
Through the implementation of new communication methods to promote the benefits of the Department and encourage people to come forward with reports of discrimination, “Points of Progress” aims to eliminate the uncertainty of reporting by showing that every incident reported is a step towards equality, even if it is only one step. Each step, each “point”, is necessary in the continuing fight to eradicate discrimination in our community.
 
“The nation has felt the sting of continuing discrimination lately, and it has called for change; change in the way we see the world, and most importantly, the way we see each other,” says Lucia Nuñez. “The Department of Civil Rights is Madison’s resource for that change at home, and we want people to use it so that someday this discrimination will no longer be the harsh thing that it is.”