Illinois creates commission to study the black community - Chicago CIty Hall

Working over the weekend is a normal schedule for Governor Pat Quinn who Saturday signed new legislation, which created the Commission to End the Disparities Facing the African American Community.

This commission will now research the disparities facing blacks in the areas of healthcare, health services, employment, education, criminal justice, housing, and other social and economic issues. Its findings will be reported to the General Assembly in a report with recommendations by Dec. 31, 2013.

The governor said blacks have historically been mistreated on all levels from the justice system to education and pledges to end that culture in Illinois.

“We know that disparities exist within the African-American community, preventing some from achieving their full potential,” he said. “In Illinois, we want everybody in, and nobody left out. We won’t shy away from examining the root causes of inequality, and working to correct them.”

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House Bill 1547, which goes into effect immediately, was sponsored by state Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago).

The commission will include a bipartisan group of legislators from the Illinois House and Senate, directors of the Departments of Human Services, Healthcare and Family Services, Children and Family Services, Public Health, Aging, Labor, Employment Security, Commerce and Economic Opportunity, state Board of Education, state Board of Higher Education, and state Department of Corrections.

Also included as a commission member will be the executive director of the Illinois African American Family Commission, and up to 10 other individuals representing black communities around the state with backgrounds in the research areas. The president of the Illinois Senate and speaker of the Illinois House will name co-chairs for this Commission, and all members will serve without compensation.

The Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago will provide staff and administrative support services.

Hunter said the commission would also identify differences between black and white children when it comes to socioeconomics.

“(This commission will be able) to better examine issues related to racial and socioeconomic differences affecting the pro-social development of children and identify ways to engage more parents to be accountable for their children’s actions,” she said. “And (it will) identify ways to engage more communities in being accountable for investing in pro-social development of children and families.”

 The study of disparities among blacks is something Hunter has been doing since first elected in 2003.

She is also a member of The Disproportionate Justice Study Commission, created in 2008 by the General Assembly to assess the effects of Illinois’ drug laws on racial and ethnic minority populations and the incarceration rates of members of those populations.

A report released this year by the commission concluded that an increase in prison populations across the state was attributed, in part, to changes in drug policy that focused on punishment and enforcement opposed to treatment alternatives.

And after visiting many state prisons, Hunter said she agrees with the report's findings.

“There are a disproportionate number of African Americans incarcerated throughout the state of Illinois. It makes you wonder because it made me wonder, ‘Why were there so many?’” she said. “I visit the prisons. I visit the women, visit the men, to try to talk to them and encourage them. [I] go over to the [Cook County] Jail and talk to the women over there, and there’s just so many [African Americans]. It’s just so overwhelming.”

via examiner.com

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