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**Who IsEnforcing Civil Rights in Arkansas: Is There a Need for a State Civil RightsAgency?**

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**Chapter 1**

**Introduction**

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Over anumber of years, the Central Regional Office of the U.S. Commission on CivilRights has conducted extensive reviews of state and local civil rightsenforcement agencies and has made recommendations to strengthen these agenciesand in some instances to create state agencies where needed.[1]The Central Region�s focus on the progress of state and local human rightsagencies is based on �new federalism,� in which the federal governmentcommitted itself to increase funding for state and local civil rights agenciesto enforce civil rights laws.[2]

Thepurpose of this report is to examine whether citizens of Arkansas have adequatemeans for redressing complaints of discrimination in employment, housing, andpublic accommodations; to assess the existing state civil rights laws in thecontext of applicable federal civil rights laws; and to inform the generalpublic about civil rights laws in Arkansas.

TheArkansas Advisory Committee has consistently received information and complaintsover a number of years from citizens alleging a lack of civil rights enforcementin Arkansas and that citizens do not know where and how to file complaints ofdiscrimination.[3]Currently, Arkansas is one of several states in the nation that have notestablished a state civil rights/human rights enforcement agency.[4]

On June11, 1998, the Advisory Committee voted to conduct a fact-finding meeting toassess this situation. Such a meeting was held on September 23�24, 1998, inLittle Rock. Persons representing local, state, and federal governments; electedofficials; attorneys; community leaders; and civil rights advocates appearedbefore the Committee to present their views and factual information about thenature and extent of civil rights enforcement in Arkansas.[5]

TheAdvisory Committee conducted field interviews and obtained information fromselected government agencies and civil rights organizations regarding thenumbers and types of complaints they received and whether they believed a stateagency was needed to enforce civil rights laws in Arkansas. The AdvisoryCommittee also received information from participants at an Arkansas CivilRights Conference sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Human Services inApril 1998.[6]

**ArkansasDemographics**

Accordingto the 1990 census, Arkansas has a population of 2,350,725, a 2.8 percentincrease over the 1980 census. Arkansas is the 33rd largest state in the Union.Minorities total 425,857, or 18.1 percent, of the state population. Forty-eightpercent, or 1,133,076, of the population is male, and 52 percent, or 1,217,649,is female.[7]

PulaskiCounty is the most populous county, with almost 15 percent of the total statepopulation. The largest cities in Arkansas are Little Rock, North Little Rock,Fayetteville-Springdale, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, and Texarkana.[8]The population breakdown is shown in table 1.[9]

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| **TABLE 1
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>****Arkansas Population
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>**[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>****1990  Number****%****1998Estimates**
Total population 

2,350,725

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
White 

1,944,744

82.7

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
Black 

373,912

15.9

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut 

12,773

0.5

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
Asian or Pacific Islander 

12,530

0.5

18,529

Other race 

6,766

0.3

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
Hispanic origin 

19,878

0.8

49,473

[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
[if !supportEmptyParas]> [endif]>
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,  CB 91-100, March 1991 and July 1998.

Dataanalyzed by the Arkansas Employment Security Department in 1996 show that peopleof color make up 14.3 percent of Arkansas� labor force. This statisticincludes a growing number of Hispanic, Native American, and Asians and PacificIslanders. In the Pulaski County area alone there was an 83 percent increase inthe Hispanic labor force from 1990 until 1996. Similarly, there was a 168percent increase in the Native American labor force. According to the ArkansasState Data Center and recent newspaper accounts, the population of minoritygroups has increased considerably throughout the �90s.[10]

Arkansasleads the nation in Hispanic population growth. Hispanic immigrants, mostly fromMexico and Central America, have moved into Arkansas and are primarily employedin the state�s poultry and meat processing industries.[11]Officials at the State Census Data Center said that in 1990 the census counted19,878 Hispanics. But over the past decade, the population has more than doubledand exceeded the 2005 projection issued two years ago. The new estimateconducted in 1998 shows 49,473 Hispanics, which researchers indicate is probablytoo low by as much as a third, putting the actual population at more than60,000.[12] Although Hispanics livein all areas of Arkansas, their numbers are concentrated in Fayetteville and theSpringdale-Rodgers area in northwest Arkansas and farther south in Fort Smithand DeQueen. According to state officials, the new census estimates show that anew and permanent community is in the making.[13]

Thestate has experienced a smaller growth in the Asian American immigrantpopulation. The Asian population increased from 12,530 in the 1980 census to18,529 in the 1990 census.[14]

In thepast, race relations were addressed as a black-white issue. Clearly, with thesurge of the Hispanic and Asian populations in Arkansas, race relations willhave to address many other ethnic and multicultural issues. A definitivepopulation count will not be available until the 2000 census.[15]

**Statementof the Issues**

Thefirst efforts to develop state civil rights legislation began underthen-Governor Bill Clinton in 1991 with the formation of a task force.[16]The Arkansas State Legislature and then-Governor Jim Guy Tucker signed into lawArkansas� first civil rights legislation on April 8, 1993 (see appendix B).[17]This bill was shepherded through the Legislature by State Senator Bill Lewellenof Marianna and State Representative Bill Walker of Little Rock. According toSenator Lewellen, the civil rights legislation passed but fell short ofproviding full civil rights protections. Its signing capped a struggle to bringArkansas into the fold with other states, allowing citizens to bring civilrights actions in state courts on the basis of race, religion, national origin,sex, and disability.[18]

Currentlyin Arkansas, there are no state agencies with statutory authority to enforcestate civil rights laws. However, redress of grievances is available at thefederal level. If a person is discriminatedagainst in employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ordisability, he or she can file a complaint with the U.S. Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission (EEOC). In the area of housing, if a person isdiscriminated against because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex,familial status, or handicap that person can file a complaint with the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Citizens may also filehousing complaints with the Arkansas Fair Housing Council or the ArkansasCommunity Organization for Reform (ACORN), which are local deferral agencieswith limited enforcement authority.[19]

Thequestion then becomes, Could a state agency authorized to enforce comparableprovisions of federal civil rights be effective? Claude Rogers, past presidentof the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies and formerdirector of the St. Louis, Missouri, Civil Rights Enforcement Agency, pointed tothe benefits of having a state agency even in the presence of federalauthorities.[20]He told the Advisory Committee:      

You havea civil rights statute in the state of Arkansas that most of the citizens cannotaccess because most of them cannot afford to pay lawyers to defend them, andthere are very few attorneys in the United States of America or anywhere in theworld that I know that will take a civil rights case on consignment unlessit�s a smoking gun. . . . So you need a state civil rights agency that isthere working for the citizens, one that does not cost them anything, that cando the investigation, and gather materials that are needed. EEOC has a backlogthat you would not believe. And they�re constantly trying to reduce thatbacklog. Currently I believe if you file a case with the EEOC, it takes at least18 months before it�s assigned. Justice delayed is justice denied. So a localor a state human rights agency not only serves the purpose of being an avenuefor citizens who do not have the funds to hire a private attorney, but they alsoreceive justice immediately. Most business people across the country feel thatthey would rather have those types of things (civil rights litigation) settledright at home in the state of Arkansas, rather than having the United Statesgovernment in their business.[21]

Stateofficials of Tennessee and Nebraska, which both have established human rightsagencies, have noted that state enforcement agencies provide citizens orderly,timely, and inexpensive legal services to redress grievances.[22]

[1]*See**Iowa Civil Rights    Agencies,*September 1982; *Nebraska    Human Rights Agencies,*December 1982; *Missouri    Human Rights Agencies*, June 1988; *From    the Dream of the Sixties to the Vision of the Nineties�The Case for An    Alabama Human Relations Commission*, December 1992.

[2]    Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, project    proposal, �Is There a Need for an Arkansas Human Relations Agency,� July    17, 1998.

[3]    Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, meeting    minutes, Apr. 30, 1998, and Jan. 22, 1998; 1998 Southwest Region Civil    Rights Conference, Arkansas Department of Human Services, Little Rock, AR,    Apr. 28�30, 1998 (hereafter cited as Arkansas Civil Rights Conference).

[4]    Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,    fact-finding meeting, Little Rock, AR, Sept. 23�24, 1998, transcript, vol.    1, p. 42 (hereafter cited as *Transcript*).

[5]    Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, meeting    minutes, June 11, 1998; *Transcript*,    vol. 1 and 2.

[6]    Arkansas Civil Rights Conference. The Advisory Committee conducted field    investigation interviews and questionnaires from July 1998 through September    1998.

[7]    U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, CB 91-100, March 1991 and    July 1998.

[8]    Ibid.

[9]    Ibid.

[10]    Andrew Green, �Arkansas Leads U.S. in Surge of Hispanics, *The**Arkansas Democrat-Gazette*, Sept. 4, 1998, p. 1A; Jim Nesbitt,    �Hispanics Full Growth of Small Arkansas Towns,� *The**Times Picayune*, Aug. 18, 1994, p. 1B.

[11]    Ibid.

[12]    Ibid.; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, ST-98-30, July    1998.

[13]    Ibid.

[14]    Ibid.

[15]    �Minority Population Surges,� *USA    Today*, Washington edition, Sept. 14, 1999, pp. 1�3.

[16]    Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993; Noel Oman, �Signing of Bill Ends    State�s Long Holdout on Civil Rights Front,� *The**Arkansas**Democrat-Gazette*,    Apr. 9, 1993, p. 1A.

[17]    The Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993 (codified at ARK.    Code. Ann. � 16-123-101 (Michie Supp. 1999)).

[18]    Oman, �Signing of Bill Ends State�s Long Holdout,� p. 1A.

[19]*Transcript*, vol. 1 and vol. 2.

[20]    Claude Rogers, *Transcript*, vol. 1,    pp. 26�50.

[21]    Ibid., pp. 32�33.

[22]    Warren Moore, Tennessee Human Rights Commission, and Lawrence Myers,    Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, cited in Arkansas Advisory Committee    to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, *From    the Dream of the Sixties to the Vision of the Nineties�The Case For An    Alabama Human Relations Commission*, December 1992, p. 9.************************                                                         |
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