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 Jacksonville HRC, Human Rights Commission – or “Hoo” Really Cares?
JACKSONVILLE – My wife was approached by a neighboring friend today, supposing that I would be all worked up over the appointment and controversial confirmation of University of North Florida professor Parvez Ahmed to the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission.
OK, so the Jacksonville City Council approved a Muslim professor to the City’s Human Rights Commission. I suppose that I should care. Frankly, I don’t.
Let’s get this straight: an elitist government executive (Mayor John Peyton) appoints an elitist government college professor (Parvez) to an elitist government position, where an elitist government legislative body approves him.
While it’s true that Ahmed was in high leadership of a terrorist-sympathizing organization, the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), he has more than once and very publicly distanced himself from their more radical stances against American and Israeli interests. And the meeting of the City Council was an embarrassment to the city and to Christians when a member of the Council (I won’t mention Councilman Don Redmon’s name) asked Ahmed to “say a prayer to your God.”
If the purpose of the HRC is to prevent discrimination based on several facets of life, including religion, this question was more than inappropriate. It was wrong. Redmond insisted that Ahmed would be offended by Christian prayers. Forgive my need to hurl. If that’s your main argument, you have no business voting on such an appointment. Nowhere in “human rights” are we guaranteed the right to not be offended.
Where I will get worked up is whether we really need such a commission with such broad implications. One quick look at the Commission’s web site is chilling (emphasis is original):
“Our Mission: To become the premier human rights agency globally.”
Why would a local governing body want to overtake its counterparts around the world?
Or do they just want to be the best anti-discrimination agency in the world?
Either way, I am beginning to question whether such a regulatory system needs to take place in the United States anymore. At this point in American history, widespread discrimination is a thing of the past. Long past. Major federal legislation banning most forms of discrimination was passed 45 years ago.
Taxpayers are spending truckloads of money “studying” whether an employer or the city has wrongfully discriminated and what “action items” need to be taken. What usually ends up being suggested is firing a bunch of old white guys, “diversity training” (whatever that ends up becoming) for everyone else, “zero-tolerance” policies (which means zero leadership and zero intelligence), and the appointment of some know-it-all elitist to monitor the situation in the future.
In other words, a once-useful organization now relegated to reliving their relevancy of the past and drumming up outrage where none really exists. People should look elsewhere for venting their frustration, places like Iran, North Korea, and Cuba.
(2010-04-29 / The North Star National )
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