The Human Rights Commission voted to appoint Isaiah Rashad II as vice chair of the commission during its recent monthly meeting. Rashad encouraged members of the Human Rights Commission to regularly attend important meetings and events in the community and proposed the creation of formal policies and procedures for the commission. Pictured are members of the Human Rights Commission Screenshot by Timothy Frudd

As the Human Rights Commission continues to push for more engagement with the local community, the commission approved a vice chair position and held discussions regarding the creation of formal policies and procedures of operation during its most recent meeting.

Having recently reduced the number of members on the Human Rights Commission to nine due to vacancies, the commission had a quorum present despite only having five members present at this month’s meeting. After a discussion regarding the creation of a vice chair position for the Human Rights Commission, the commission voted unanimously to appoint Isaiah Rashad II as the vice chair to alleviate some of the responsibility from Chairman Uvie Stewart Jr.

Following his appointment as vice chair, Rashad explained the need for the Human Rights Commission to develop policies and procedures for community concerns and complaints regarding any violations of human rights.

“I have been thinking an awful lot about what our role is, what we do, how we operate and how the community perceives us as an arm of the City Council,” he said. “What I’ve learned in all my research is that we don’t have any policy procedures of what happens once we get a complaint and how it gets to an endpoint or where that endpoint is.”

Rashad proposed that the Human Rights Commission create a policies and procedures “from scratch” regarding how the commission investigates complaints about human rights violations, so that the Human Rights Commission could “look professional” in all of its operations. Rashad suggested that standard policies and procedures would enable the Human Rights Commission to develop “step-by-step” methods of interacting with the public, the mayor, the City Council, or any other external entity.

Rashad acknowledged that the policies and procedures he is working on writing would need to be voted on by the full Human Rights Commission once he completes a “rough draft” of the proposed policies. While Rashad said the policies and procedures would not be completed “overnight,” he told the rest of the commission that he would begin working on the rough draft of various policies immediately.

In addition to proposing the formation of formal policies for the Human Rights Commission, Rashad stressed the importance of the Human Rights Commission attending various meetings and activities throughout Jamestown.

“Being in the public eye, when it comes to our duties as members of the Human Rights Commission, we should be at certain places,” he said. “Of course I’m not saying that you have to be there as a mandate, what I’m saying is you should make an effort to be at some of these meetings where people know us, they see us and they’re going to be mindful about what they’re doing and saying.”

Rashad said members of the Human Rights Commission should regularly attend meetings involving the City Council, Board of Public Utilities, Jamestown Public School, Mental Health Association, Parks and Recreation Department, Veterans Affairs, Department of Development, Human Resource Center and the I.D.E.A. Coalition.

“It’s important that we’re at these meetings, and the reason being is there’s a lot that we don’t know,” he said. “Especially as a small group, there’s a lot that we do not know. We only hear things as people bring it to us, but if we’re out there, if we’re putting ourselves out there and we’re going to these meetings, we’ll understand a lot more about what’s ebbing and flowing throughout the city. It’s important for us because when there’s chaos, that’s when people need us, and we need to make sure that we’re prepared.”

While the Human Rights Commission previously established various subcommittees, Rashad emphasized the importance of individual members dedicating time to address subcommittee responsibilities and actively engage with the community.