A Chance to Invigorate Civil Rights

President Bush has spoken eloquently enough on civil rights to raise hopes, but he has done little during 10 months in office. A top civil rights job remains vacant. The leaderless U.S. Civil Rights Commission may actually expire. It is time for good works that match the good words.

Bush’s first choice to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division, William Lucas, was in effect rejected by a Senate committee in August because he had neither the legal experience nor the civil rights expertise for the post. But we can think of several Republican attorneys who are qualified and there must be dozens of others.

The short list should include outstanding lawyers like William T. Coleman, the Ford Administration’s transportation secretary, who has demonstrated his depth of understanding on civil rights before the U.S. Supreme Court. J. Clay Smith, a constitutional law professor at Howard University, who has been acting chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and William H. Brown III, chairman of the EEOC during the Nixon Administration, who practices law in Philadelphia, also should be considered.

President Bush can certainly get names of other candidates from prominent black Republicans who are attorneys, people like the Rev. Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, or Clarence Thomas, chairman of the EEOC.

Bush also needs guidance, and fast, on how to revive the flagging civil rights commission. The resignation of William B. Allen as chairman provides an opportunity for decent leadership. Arthur Fletcher, Bush’s choice to succeed Allen, has the high-level government experience, commitment, political savvy and civil rights connections to get the job done.

Stronger leadership is only part of the answer, however. The commission is scheduled to expire next month unless Congress and the Administration can agree on legislation to refund the agency. It is worth saving only if the commission can gain adequate resources, and if its fine reports and recommendations are heeded once again by the White House.

The commission, once a strong and powerful watchdog, monitored the federal government and its enforcement of civil rights laws with probing investigations, comprehensive reports and pointed recommendations for 25 years. It provided information to courts and Congress and earned a respected reputation.

During the Reagan Administration, the commission’s chairman, Clarence Pendleton, crippled the agency. His equally controversial successor, Allen, proved no better. Allen became an embarrassment after being arrested for intervening inappropriately in a custody case involving an Indian girl and for such speeches as “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? Who is a Minority,” which he delivered two weeks ago in Anaheim. As the leadership failed, the commission lost clout, credibility and dollars.

Civil rights advocacy is still very much needed, even though there are laws against discrimination in housing, education, employment and voting rights. Without strong and vigilant enforcement, those laws are empty words.