After considering disbanding the Human Rights Commission due to inactivity, the Anoka City Council decided Monday to keep it when more than a dozen residents voiced their support for the board.
The council voted 4-1 to keep the commission, with only Council Member Elizabeth Barnett voting against it because she said it should exist outside City Hall, a sentiment shared by Council Member Brian Wesp.
The council started talking about disbanding the commission in March, before the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Supporters said the timing for disbanding the commission now was poor, considering the ongoing social justice protests sparked by Floyd's death.
"Since the aftermath of the recent events that have affected so many people, does it still seem timely to disband the Human Rights Commission at this time?" asked Commissioner Sue Dilcher in a recorded message played at the council meeting.
Dilcher said commissioners were never invited to join the discussions to disband or involved in them. At the very least, she said, it would have been respectful to be notified of plans to disband the commission, which hasn't met since 2012.
Some residents said city leaders lack enthusiasm for the commission and don't encourage people to serve on it. The five-member commission has one vacancy, and three members' terms expire at the end of the year. Several people at Monday's meeting expressed their intent to apply.
The threat to shut down the commission may have renewed interest in retaining it, but some residents and a representative of the League of Women Voters said it won't be effective without more people of color serving on it.
Barnett said the commission, which like the council has no people of color, was "under the guise" of diversity. She said the city staffer assigned as the commission liaison may not be passionate enough "to drive these topics and conversations."
Council Member Mark Freeburg made the motion to keep the commission and said people should apply to resurrect it — "More power to you," he said — but he disagreed with residents who said Anoka has a reputation of being unwelcoming.
Freeburg pushed back when several residents, who were white, shared their concerns about racism in Anoka.
"I don't want to talk about racism. It's not my problem. I don't see it. I don't have it. I don't participate in it," he said. "If you feel guilty for being white, then [that's] your problem."
All seven residents who addressed the council in person at Monday's meeting, along with five e-mails and two audio messages, supported keeping the commission. An online petition created by a resident, Margaret Anderson, garnered more than 400 signatures.
It was unclear if the council planned to amend city code to require the commission to meet on a regular basis, a request Anderson brought to the city on two occasions this summer.
It was suggested the city host a town hall event to discuss racism and the commission's role in the city.
