In the last 2 years, we have presented 4 reports, one which evaluated the enforcement of fair housing laws, and made suggestions for improved effectiveness and efficiency of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; one report on the budgets and resources available to civil rights agencies; and two reports as part of our Racial Tensions Project, a very important project that we have been working on for the last 2 years.

We have 2 reports that should be released before the end of this year, one on the enforcement of title VI of the Civil Rights Act which requires no discrimination on the basis of race in distributing Federal funds, and another on equal educational opportunity. But we are not a race relations agency. I want to point that out. We deal with a lot of different issues.

We released our first public service announcement, which is now permitted by statute, that Mary Chapin Carpenter, one of my favorite singers, did for us, and it was a wonderful PSA and we have had a great response to it. Next year, our major enforcement report is on the Americans with Disabilities Act, especially employment, and also on religion in the schools, a very important issue to make sure that people are able to have free exercise.

But what I would like to do for the rest of my time is to briefly discuss the church arsons issue and the forums that the Commission has been holding through its State advisory committees in the States. I have been to six of these, six States in the South, in connection with these forums and I spent most of July there. What I want to tell you is that I am concerned about the burning of churches because, as my fellow commissioners know, I am a primitive Baptist, which means that I believe in foot washing and bench walking and line singing and literally reading the Bible. So if any church burns, I would be concerned, and we are concerned as a matter of religion.

But in these forums, we were trying to figure out what law enforcement officials were doing and see whether there were any racial problems that provided a social context in which the arsons that seemed to be racially motivated, according to law enforcement officials, took place. What we found was that local law enforcement officials were not as assiduous as we would like them to be in the enforcement area.

BATF and the FBI seemed to be working well, but more important than that, we found black and white people working together across racial lines to address the problems of race in their communities in some areas, although in others we found tensions existed and the local people were not addressing them and were in a state of denial. We will have a more complete report on the church arsons later after our advisory committees have acted, but these reminded me of how deep are some of the racial divisions in our country and the role the Commission can play in trying to heal these.

I appreciate the time and I will be pleased to answer any questions you might have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared statement of Ms. Berry follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARY FRANCES BERRY

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to testify today in support of the authorization of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

I appear before you representing the eight Commissioners who comprise our diverse, bipartisan body. In addition to serving as Chairperson, I also hold the position of Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. My seven colleagues are: Vice Chairperson Cruz Reynoso, Special Counsel to the law firm of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler and professor of law at the UCLA Law School; Carl A Anderson, vice president for public policy for the Knights of Columbus, and dean, vice president, and professor of family law at the North American Campus of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family; Robert P. George, associate professor of politics at Princeton University; A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Of Counsel to the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison, and public service professor of Jurisprudence at Harvard University; Constance Horner, guest scholar Governmental Studies at the Brookings Institution; Russell G. Redenbaugh, partner and director of Cooke & Bieler, Inc., and cofounder and head of Kairos, Inc.; Yvonne Y. Lee, president of Yvonne Lee Consultants.

Though we bring to the work of the Commission diverse backgrounds, talents, and viewpoints on civil rights issues, we nevertheless share the common goal of fulfilling the Commission's legislative mandate to the maximum extent possible. In this spirit, the Commissioners unanimously recommend that Congress reauthorize the Commission for a period of 6 years and provide for an appropriation in FY 1997 of $11,400,000. We have been advised that the Administration is in accord with our proposal.

Next year, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights celebrates 40 years of service to the Nation. The creation of the Commission through the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 marked an important step in executing fully the Federal Government's responsibility for protecting the civil rights possessed by all Americans under the Constitution. Since then, piece by piece and with broad bipartisan support, Congress and the President have enacted numerous laws establishing a broad spectrum of civil rights remedies and enforcement mechanisms. The Commission is very proud of its contributions in shaping these accomplishments and of our efforts to ensuring that their intended benefits are realized.

There can be no doubt that, today, Federal civil rights policies are responsible for much of the gains we have made in eliminating the abuse, the discrimination, and the barriers to achieving equality that so many members of society have been forced to endure during our nation's history. Yet, the task of ensuring that all Americans can exercise their constitutional and civil rights is far from complete. On the contrary, we know that discrimination and denials of people's rights are everyday oc

currences.

Many incidents occurring today are jarringly similar to the overt, often brutal, manifestations of prejudice and bigotry widely exhibited 20, 30, and 40 years ago. Witness the dozens of churches that have been destroyed by arson in recent months. Many of these incidents are apparently racially-motivated and represent nothing less than acts of terrorism, fueled by race hatred, against the spiritual, social, and political centers of African American and integrated communities. Other incidents appear to be motivated by hostility to particular communities of religious faith or religious faith in general. These acts must serve to unite and strengthen the resolve of all Americans who champion civil rights to fight the destructive effects of bigotry and prejudice.

The Commission's activities continue to identify major civil rights problems that need to be addressed in such diverse areas as credit, employment, housing, and even in the administration of federally assisted programs. However, many Federal civil rights enforcement agencies have been unable to fulfill their central mission to secure remedies for individuals whose civil rights have been violated or have been remiss in their responsibility to do so. This is bad news for civil rights law enforcement, bad news for those individuals who have personally experienced discrimination, and bad news for America. If laws cannot be vigorously enforced, they are only empty vessels of promise.

Members of this Commission have different views about the nature of many civil rights challenges today, the role of Federal law and policy in meeting these challenges, and the types of remedies they demand. We are united, however, in our view that the nation continues to need a strong and active agency of the government, acting as an independent, objective, finder of fact, to illuminate problems where they exist and to provide guidance and leadership in finding ways to resolve them. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is uniquely equipped to serve this role. There sim

ply is no other entity that possesses the Commission's statutory factfinding authority and powers, the bipartisan composition, and the independence to carry out the mission freely.

Our independent status means that we have no vested interests in particular civil rights policies or enforcement programs, nor are our recommendations and policy decisions subject to Administration approval before issuance. And our bipartisan makeup ensures that key issues are examined from a range of perspectives. Unlike private organizations, the Commission possesses special investigative powers, including the power to issue subpoenas and conduct hearings, and Federal agencies are required, by law, to cooperate with the Commission. The Commission does not advocate, litigate, mediate, or enforce laws. Our agency has just one central mission: to investigate the status of civil rights and civil rights enforcement and to inform the President, the Congress, and the public of our findings and recommendations. In sum, these factors give the Commission a unique and important position to oversee and shape civil rights policies and law enforcement, irrespective of which political party predominates in the Presidency or Congress.

A review of the Commission's accomplishments and plans for FY 1997 reveals a program that addresses some of the most pressing and controversial civil rights issues of the day. To carry out this program, we ask Congress to reauthorize the Commission for 6 years and provide an appropriation of $11,400,000 for FY 1997.

PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997

The Commission's programmatic agenda for FY 1997 will continue to emphasize activities in the areas of Federal civil rights enforcement, the national crisis of rising racial and ethnic tensions in American communities, and civil rights developments in our States, cities, and rural communities. Added resources would also support factfinding projects on a number of important issues such as the crisis of African American males in our inner cities, affirmative action, expanding the economic opportunities of minority youth, voting rights, naturalization issues, environmental justice, and religious accommodation in public schools.

• The Commission's principal civil rights enforcement project for FY 1997 is an evaluation of how well Titles I and II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have been implemented and enforced. Enacted six years ago, the enforcement of this complex and sometimes controversial law has not been subjected to a thorough, external examination. Title I of the ADA bars discrimination in employment against persons with disabilities. Title II prohibits State and local governments from discriminating against qualified persons with disabilities and requires that all government facilities, services, and communications be accessible. The factfinding for this study will include interviews with officials, document reviews, analysis of complaints data, and a two-day public hearing.

• A public factfinding hearing will be held to examine Federal affirmative action programs and policies in employment, contracting and licensing, and education. The hearing will be designed to collect factual information in these topical areas.

• The Commission will begin an evaluation of fair employment law enforcement by examining the policies and enforcement mechanisms of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice. One goal of this study is to determine whether each of the enforcement agencies has sufficient staff, resources, and training to carry out its responsibilities, whether its procedures and organization are effective, whether its policies and regulations comport with congressional intent and existing case law, and whether its policies, regulations, or the law require revision or elaboration in order to decrease the incidence of job discrimination. Other project goals include determining whether the agencies adequately address systemic and individual complaints of discrimination, and whether education and enforcement measures taken by these agencies ensure compliance with the laws.

• In FY 1997, the Commission will complete its multiyear project entitled, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination. This project addresses the deteriorating condition of race and ethnic relations in America. Through a series of hearings, the Commission is seeking to identify and offer solutions for overcoming discrimination in such areas as economic opportunity, education, housing, social services, and the administration of justice. To date, hearings have been held in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami. Two final hearings are planned for FY 1996: a followup hearing in Los Angeles on police-community relations and a hearing in the Mississippi Delta region to examine racial and ethnic tensions in a rural setting. In FY 1997, we will issue a report on the Mississippi Delta hearing and a final report summarizing what we have learned from all the hearings held in this series, by examining common causes

and major differences in the way racial and ethnic tensions were experienced and dealt with in the different communities examined.

The crisis of young African American males in the inner cities is manifest in disproportionately high rates of unemployment, underemployment, incarceration and drug addiction. The Commission will examine the sources and possible solutions to this crisis through a series of public factfinding hearings around the country beginning in FY 1997. Additional research will include studying census data, Štate agency population data, local social service data, local prosecutor and district attorney data, and a detailed analysis of the policies of the U.S. attorney's offices serving five selected cities.

• In a second project pertaining to youth, we will identify private and public initiatives for expanding the economic opportunities of African American, Asian, and Latino youth. We will use a series of conferences in different cities and conduct additional research to examine local barriers to economic opportunities and to explore ideas, plans, and initiatives for expanding these opportunities. The study will examine how employers and governments influence local labor markets and the incentives for business formation in poor areas, e.g., the effect of tax policies and business regulation on business location decisions, and the efforts by businesses to recruit and train young minority workers. By including a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we hope to identify a number of successful and innovative approaches to overcoming these barriers.

• The Commission will also examine whether the American education system has achieved the dual guarantees of religious freedom: freedom of religious expression and the prohibition against State establishment of religion. That is, have public schools been able to avoid promoting specific religious beliefs while not stifling the free expression of beliefs? Hearings will begin in FY 1997 and be held in approximately five different cities to examine current constitutional scholarship on first amendment religious rights, the operation of the Equal Access Act and similar laws, and the adherence by the State, i.e., the school system, to these laws and the Constitution in regard to religious freedom.

• The role of the Federal Government in encouraging citizenship will be examined to determine what the government might reasonably be expected to do to foster naturalization and whether existing impediments to naturalization can be ameliorated. The project will examine the effect and efficacy of recently enacted reforms as well as various proposals to improve accessibility to citizenship. We will also consider evidence on the issue of whether naturalization procedures are implemented differently for different national groups.

• The Commission will address the issue of environmental justice by examining the existence of environmental health hazards in minority communities, and by determining how successful minority communities have been in dealing with these issues. This project will consider the legitimacy of some allegations of environmental risk disparities by racial and ethnic minority communities. These issues will be explored through three separate hearings in different locations across the country.

We will conduct research. on a number of issues arising from the application of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. We will consider such questions as what factors should be considered in creating districts, how minority population shares should be calculated in drawing voting districts, and how the term "close judicial scrutiny," as used in Shaw v. Reno, should be interpreted.

In addition to these factfinding activities, the Commission will maintain an active program for disseminating information and educating the public. We will continue to produce public service announcements designed to discourage discrimination, and we will also continue the publication of the newly launched magazine entitled the Civil Rights Journal. Two issues of this magazine are expected to be issued in FY 1997 with articles on a range of important civil rights issues. We also plan to expand and automate operations of the Commission's National Clearinghouse Library. As the largest collection of civil rights information in the country, our library serves as a valuable resource for scholars, public and private sector organizations, interested citizens, as well as Commission staff members. Library staff provide civil rights information to the public, maintain the library collections, make document loans to the public, and handle publications inquiries and distribution.

The Commission will continue to support the local factfinding activities of our 51 State Advisory Committees. These committees serve as the eyes and ears of the Commission in thousands of cities, towns and rural communities across America. Their critical importance is clearly demonstrated by the role they are playing this year in examining the rash of arson attacks that have destroyed scores of houses of worship, including a disproportionately high number of predominantly African American churches. In the coming year, we hope to expand the frequency of Advi

sory Committee meetings to three for each State. Projects will continue from the previous year and new projects will be developed.

In FY 1997, the Commission expects to receive approximately 5,000 written and telephonic complaints from individuals alleging civil rights violations. These complaints originate in all 50 States and the territories, and relate to a wide spectrum of issues including civil rights concerns, child abuse, police brutality, and denial of social security. Each complaint must be reviewed and forwarded to the appropriate agency for action. In FY 1997, resources will be used to enhance the tracking of complaints referred by the Commission to other Federal agencies.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FISCAL YEAR 1995 AND FISCAL YEAR 1996

The Commission's major accomplishments during FY 1995 and 1996 include the following:

• The Commission continued work on its multiyear project on Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination. Adding to the record established during hearings in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. the Commission conducted a documents hearing in New York City in July, 1995 to collect data on the hiring and recruitment policies of Wall Street banks and securities firms and a hearing in Miami, Florida, in September 1995 to examine immigration-related civil rights issues as they relate to race and ethnic relations. The Commission also issued reports on hearings conducted in Chicago and Washington, D.C., entitled, respectively, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination-The Chicago Report, and Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities: Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination-A National Perspective. During FY 1996, the Commission expects to conduct a hearing in the Mississippi Delta region and a followup hearing in Los Angeles. The Mississippi Delta was selected to provide a rural perspective on a number of problem areas linked to racial and ethnic tensions, including denials of voting rights, access to public education, limited economic opportunity, and the vestiges of segregation in higher education. The Los Angeles hearing will deal with police-community relations issues. Also the Commission expects to issue reports on the New York, Los Angeles, and Miami hearings.

The Commission completed and released a report, entitled Funding Federal Civil Rights Enforcement, which analyzed the funding levels requested and appropriated for civil rights in the six major civil rights agencies from FY 1979 through FY 1996. This project focused on the budgets of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Department of Labor, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Offices for Civil Rights at the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services.

• During FY 1995, the Commission staff completed a major statutory report, entitled Federal Title VI Enforcement to Ensure Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recipients of Federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity. This study reviews enforcement efforts in recent years and finds that most Federal and State agencies have almost entirely abandoned any serious attempt to enforce Title VI. The study includes an assessment of agency performance in conducting onsite compliance reviews and individual complaint investigations, as well as an analysis of agency compliance standards.

In FY 1996, the Commission staff will complete an enforcement study on the Department of Education's efforts to enforce a variety of laws mandating equal educational opportunity. This study focuses on civil rights issues relating to the education offered language-minority children, programs provided to children with disabilities, equal educational opportunity for girls, and the ability tracking of minority children. One goal of this study is to determine whether each of the enforcement agencies has sufficient staff, resources, and training to carry out its responsibilities, whether its procedures and organization are effective, whether its policies and regulations comport with existing law, and whether its policies, regulations, or the law require revision or elaboration. Other project goals include evaluating the Department's onsite compliance program and compliance standards, and determining whether education and enforcement measures taken by these agencies ensure compliance with the laws.

In response to the wave of arson attacks on predominantly African American churches, the Commission issued a statement condemning the attacks and announcing plans to intensify its efforts to end the attacks. The Commission also urged the enactment of the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 and the restoration of full