MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS

Related: Grand Rapids police have drawn outrage for years for pulling guns on minority residentsMDCR continues to investigate a little more than two dozen discrimination complaints against the department. That is, it did until Lyoya was fatally shot in the back of the head by a Grand Rapids police officer during a struggle. Lyoya’s funeral was held Friday in Grand Rapids. People have been traumatized by the treatment at the hands of local law enforcement,” said Cle Jackson, president of the Greater Grand Rapids NAACP. It’s long overdue, long overdue.”Both Jackson and Patterson believe there is a pattern or practice of racial discrimination at the Grand Rapids Police Department.

Michigan state officials have asked the US Department of Justice to launch a "pattern-or-practice" investigation into the Grand Rapids Police Department after an officer there fatally shot a man during a physical struggle following a...

The request for assistance from other agencies comes nearly three years since the state civil rights watchdog opened an investigation into the Grand Rapids Police Department. Officials with the state civil rights department in May 2019 announced they would investigate that question of racial discrimination, along with dozens of other individual complaints of discrimination against GRPD. The Michigan civil rights department opened a preliminary investigation into GRPD in March 2019. Lyoya’s death has once again placed statewide and national scrutiny on the Grand Rapids Police Department. Johnson said MDCR has fielded a total of just under four dozen complaints against the Grand Rapids Police Department.

Former and current state lawmakers from metro Detroit plan to file a lawsuit against Michigan’s redistricting commission, arguing it violated the federal Voting Rights Act...

Republicans and civil rights advocates have found themselves on the same side of an argument: They both say Michigan's newly drawn legislative districts are unfair...

Less than two weeks before Michigan’s redistricting commission is expected to approve the next decade of new voting districts, the state’s civil rights department declared...

And three Michigan schools still use the term Redskins, seen as the most offensive to Native American communities. Camden-Frontier Schools in Hillsdale County, Sandusky Community Schools in Sanilac County and Saranac Community Schools in Ionia County are the Michigan districts that still use Redskins as mascots. An additional 38 schools across the state continue to use Native American imagery. The use of Native American imagery in schools has been a longstanding issue for the state. The Michigan Board of Education adopted a Resolution in 2003 that supports the elimination of Native American descriptors and mascots by all Michigan schools.

In Michigan, the agency that’s in charge of enforcing anti-discrimination laws is the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR). “I’ve been involved in civil rights work since the ‘90s through the Detroit Chapter of the NAACP and also through our Michigan State Conference NAACP … Those combined skills, along with community work, puts me in a position to lead this magnificent staff that is both committed and dedicated to the work of enforcing civil rights.” — John E. Johnson, MDCR Executive DirectorOn May 24, John E. Johnson was appointed the new director of the MDCR by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. Listen: John E. Johnson discusses how, under his leadership, the MDCR is enforcing anti-discrimination laws. GuestJohn E. Johnson is the Executive Director of the MDCR. ”The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is the law enforcement agency for civil rights violations in the state established by the state constitution.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU) is asking the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) to intervene in a “potentially racially hostile education environment” in Brighton schools.

LANSING, MI — The Michigan Supreme Court has bypassed the appellate court in agreeing to a Department of Civil Rights request to hear its appeal of a lower-court ruling that held the sex classification in the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act does not encompass sexual orientation. They have filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, arguing the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act doesn’t protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court called for briefs to be filed by Oct. 25 with no extensions unless good cause is shown. In the majority were Chief Justice Bridget McCormack, Justice Richard Bernstein, Justice Megan Cavanagh and Justice Elizabeth Welch. Read more:Wedding venue that declined to host same-sex marriage ceremony sues Michigan Department of Civil RightsLawmakers, Whitmer renew push to expand civil rights protections to Michigan’s LGBTQ residentsNew ballot initiative would protect LGBT Michiganders from housing, employment discrimination

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — Earlier this year, a 7-year-old biracial girl attending a Mount Pleasant grade school had her hair cut first by a fellow student, then by a school librarian. Two days later, Jurnee returned home a second time with nearly all her hair cut off down to a few inches from her scalp. · Cutting a student’s hair on school grounds either with or without parent permission is a clear violation of school policy. “A white employee and white administrators being investigated by a nearly all-white school board who hired an unknown ‘independent investigator’ is not an appropriate lens by which to evaluate this situation. Read more:Department of Civil Rights ‘deeply concerned’ about Mount Pleasant girl’s haircut by school stafferMichigan school district says girl, 7, asked to have her hair cutMichigan girl’s haircut by school staffer ‘modern-day scalping,’ says National Parents Union

SAGINAW, MI — A Saginaw man has filed complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the Michigan State Police, alleging troopers targeted and threatened him during a traffic stop this summer. Stephen J. Houston, a 27-year-old Black man, cited racial discrimination in filing the complaint against the two white troopers with the civil rights department. Michigan law calls for a concealed pistol license holder to immediately alert police to a licensed gun. The footage then devolves into overlapping chatter between the troopers, Houston, and yelling from the women, making portions of the audio difficult to discern. Michigan State Police troopers on July 11 pulled over Stephen J. Houston in Buena Vista Township.

Photo via Crain's DetroitDETROIT Mary Engelman, the acting Michigan Department of Civil Rights director, was appointed as interim director of the Department on Monday. Engelman previously served as the executive director of the Michigan Womens Commission, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and since August as acting director of the MDCR. We felt it would helpful to have an adviser to assist us in the process of searching for a new executive director, Wheeler Smith said. The Commission also approved a job description and posting schedule, as well as a process by which it will select a permanent executive director. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission was created by the Michigan Constitution to safeguard constitutional and legal guarantees against discrimination.

click to enlarge Steve NeavlingA racial incident at a downtown Detroit bar has evolved into a public discussion, called Lets Talk About Race, set for Thursday.The Michigan Department of Civil Rights will facilitate the community conversation at 3:30 p.m. at Checker Bar, 124 Cadillac Place.The impetus for the discussion was a complaint by Wendell Fleming, a Black patron who said he was mistreated and called names by an unnamed white bartender. The bartender was fired the next day for making racial slurs. Detroit is not one of those cities, and will not be. That is why we are excited about this conversation. Its part of our role as a good neighbor.