Human Rights Commission

MORGANTOWN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MINUTES REGULAR MEETING ON MARCH 21, 2024 (As Amended) At the Morgantown Public Safety Building, 300 Spruce St, Morgantown, WV Attendance: Commissioners Present: Chair, Annie CRONAN YORICK; Vice Chair, Bonnie BROWN; Secretary, Bronson HERR; Commissioner Danny TREJO; Commissioner Ashley SWANSON Liaisons: None present Members of the Public: Don SPENCER Absent: (2 Vacancies) Call to Order: There being a quorum present, the Chair called the meeting to Order at 6:45 p.m. Public Portion: • Don Spencer gave the background for the upcoming WVU Human Rights Film Series; the purpose is to educate and facilitate public awareness of human rights issues and how people can respond to them. The WVU Native American Studies program is the custodian of the film series endowment. • Don asserted that the HRC’s webpage human rights calendar should not be overloaded with all observances and public holidays; instead, the HRC should only post enough holidays that pertain directly to human rights. Minutes: • The Minutes for the Regular Meeting on June 5, 2023, were reviewed in advance. Brown moved to adopt the Minutes; Swanson seconded. The Minutes for June 5, 2023, were unanimously approved. • The Minutes for the Regular Meeting on February 15, 2024, were reviewed in advance. Vice Chair Brown advised the following amendment to remove the first sentence of the second paragraph and replace it with the following: “Amá is a film about involuntary sterilization of Native American women at government-run hospitals. A practice that continued into the 1970s and impacted women from other groups as well. Jean Whitehorse, Navajo Nation, will discuss her experience as one of the Native women sterilized without consent.” Brown also advised that Imagining the Indian (premiering 04-02-2024 at 6 pm in G21 Ming Hsieh Hall) was/is not part of the Human Rights film series. Brown also advised to amend ‘Madan Sara’ (date April 10, 2024, at 7 pm, G21 Ming Hsieh Hall) to say, “a third film.” Swanson moved to adopt the February 15, 2024, Minutes; Brown seconded. The Minutes were unanimously approved. Communications: • Annie got contact info for NACCP to coordinate efforts to celebrate Juneteenth and issues affecting the Black community. She also got updated contact information for PRIDE events. • CCSJ is doing an event for the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act starting July 2, 2024. The HRC has agreed to help with event publicity. • Annie considered that it might be best to close the old HRC Facebook account and open a new one if we can’t locate the page administrator. The Commission advocated for increased social media presence. Annie reviewed the approval process for social media posting. She then asked Commissioner Swanson to do further research to locate the identity of the HRC’s Facebook administrator. Swanson agreed. • Annie is building an HRC cloud account and will try to create a SharePoint workgroup for HRC. Microsoft programming options have changed; we may need another avenue. Vice Chair Brown asked who has the password to the HRC cloud account; Annie advised that both she and the City’s IT Director, Tim, have it. Priority business • The team discussed Cinco de Mayo to decide whether the HRC should seek a Proclamation for the day. Commissioner Trejo confirmed that it is an important commemoration for the Mexican-American community and gave a historical background of the day. The group then discussed Cesar Chavez Day and agreed that Cinco de Mayo was the better holiday to commemorate in Morgantown. Updates: Chair, Annie Cronan Yorick • Recommended updating the HRC’s Human Rights Master Calendar’s days of observance by utilizing www.DivserityResources.com; the master calendar should list all non-religious observances. • April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. She shared some background research about the U.S. Military’s work around the observance. The military has embraced the observance after it had agreed there is active violence against military spouses and significant sexual assault among the ranks. She suggested amplifying news and awareness of the month around the Morgantown area by partnering or sponsorship. • Loving Day, the national annual commemoration, is held on June 12th. It is the anniversary of the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in the United States. She suggested that the NAACP may be interested in doing something to commemorate the day. • The oral arguments for the Supreme Court case, City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, are scheduled for April 22nd. City Councilman Brian Butcher was looking into organizing a bus for interested people to rally that day in Washington, D.C. The challenged law criminalizes sleeping in public and other acts deemed by the city to be unique to the Homeless population. • At the request of City Councilwoman Trumble, Annie wrote letters of support to  Senators Machin and Capito in support of a grant request of $500K of congressional funds for Hazel’s House of Hope to improve food services facilities and bring the building into ADA compliance. She wrote the letters in the personal capacity as a human rights attorney, but as part of the signature line, included “Chair, Morgantown Human Rights Commission”. She reiterated that no individual member of the HRC is permitted to issue statements on behalf of the Commission without a vote agreeing to the statement. She apologized to members if they thought her letters, were an over- step. • She questions why Homelessness is not under the purview of the HRC; shelter is a fundamental human right. • She spoke with the City Manager about the Strategic Plan for DEI; the Manager is to collect original reports from all relevant City entities and review them with the HRC for compliance with the City’s human rights ordinances and policies. This mandate has been in place since 2020 but the City Manager says no reports have been submitted. • Applications for city employment and appointments to boards and commissions must ask DEI questions to gather required for statistical purposes. The City must collect the same data for existing employees, appointees, and elected officials. Individuals may opt not to answer the questions. She is working with the City Clerk and Human Resources to bring their applications into compliance. • The City still needs compliance officers and inspectors under Title II of the ADA. • We should advertise more events, such as the Human Rights Film Series, through the City news bulletins and Listserv. Vice-Chair, Bonnie Brown: • Bonnie attended the recent vigil held for Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary Native American student who died the day after a gender identity-based assault at their high school. The vigil was at the courthouse square on February 26, 2024. • She left a message with the Choctaw Nation to express sympathy on behalf of the Native American Studies Program, and people in our community who held a vigil. • She will finish her term on the HRC on June 30, 2024. She will not apply for renewal of her position. She will remain an HRC resource for Native American-related Human Rights issues. • She hopes the HRC will co-sponsor future Human Rights Film Series; she is concerned for the program’s future because of funding issues with WVU. • She explained the background of the Native American Elder-in-Residence at WVU; each is invited to the campus for a few days to speak to students and the community. Secretary, Bronson Herr: • none Commissioner Trejo: • Trejo was recently re-approved to go into the public schools as a social worker. He reported that he was initially removed because he was advocating for awareness of the violence being committed against Latino students.  • He spoke about a Salvadoran family located at Bartlett Housing in West Run. He is advocating for two of the children of the family who are U.S. citizens but are being denied SNAP and Medicaid benefits. He was told the reason is that their mother was/is not an official asylum-seeker. Trejo is working with Mountain State Justice to remediate the problem. Commissioner Swanson – • She supports entries from the Meeting Minutes for June 5, 2023, especially the need for action on items moving forward, such as DEI. • She tried to contact an acquaintance who works with the Governor to get information about why the WVHRC appointments are not being made, but she got no response. Liaisons: • Tim Hairston: absent • Brian Butcher: absent Adjournment: With no further business, Herr moved to adjourn; Brown seconded. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 8:50 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for April 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Public Safety Building. Minutes by Secretary Herr, with edits by CRONAN YORICK for adoption at the April 18, 2024, meeting.