ALLENTOWN, Pa. — There Chad Dion Lassiter sat, all 6-feet-6 of him, calmly dispensing invaluable information to community members much as a professorial clinician would.
But there were occasions Monday evening in the basement of the public library when Lassiter, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, uncoiled from his seat.
The moment called for it, what with his being asked so many questions begging for answers — about racial and gender inequality, disability discrimination, fair housing and education violations and more.
“The weight of 13 million people in this Commonwealth is on our shoulders and we’re called to deliver."Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
And so Lassiter would rise from his chair, ignoring painful sciatica and knee tendinitis. He suddenly traded his academic posture for that of a Baptist preacher and boomed some good ol’ Sunday morning enlightenment intended to help improve their lives.
“The weight of 13 million people in this commonwealth is on our shoulders and we’re called to deliver,” Lassiter said. “Urban, rural, suburban, Islamophobia, discrimination against the disabled, racism.
“We are here to ask about some of the salient issues you see in your community.”
Monday's event was billed as PHRC on the Road: Building a Beloved Community. Each of the state’s 67 counties will be visited this year.
“It’s not the job of the citizens of the commonwealth to know who the PHRC is,” Lassiter said. “It's our job as the top civil rights enforcement agency to get to communities so they can know who we are and how we can help.”
'What's missing are levels of civility'
Founded in 1955, the PHRC created the Beloved Community framework to assist communities of the commonwealth to intentionally build a culture of peace, understanding and tolerance despite differences within the context of an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.
“The Beloved Community” is a term first coined in the early days of the 20th Century by the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
However, it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who popularized the term and invested it with a deeper meaning that has captured the imagination of people of goodwill all over the world.
“Pennsylvania is made up of so many different people — Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists,” Lassiter told the gathering.
“What’s missing are levels of civility.”
Lassiter was host of the 90-minute slide-show presentation explaining the mission of the PHRC and how it can help address issues such as inequality and prejudice.
“We have dedicated, trained, unbiased investigators that will walk you through the process to help you prepare your complaint,” he said, adding the investigation process is free.
PHRC provides free training to schools, employers, businesses, community groups, local government and law enforcement and others.
PHRC also offers education and outreach programs, including Social Justice Lunch and Learns, Diversity Speaks series, social justice lecture series, No Hate in Our State town hall series and a racial tension reduction response team.
“We all have a way for the world to be better, just in a different kind of way,” Lassiter said.
Concerns from the audience
Lassiter later fielded concerns from the audience.
Topics included complaints about unfair evictions from rental properties and the lack of housing regulations in the state.
“I’m 22 years old and the caretaker of five children,” one woman said. “I was homeless for a year and a half; the moment they hear I have five kids, I’m done.
“It’s landlord discrimination. But a lot of tenants don’t know their rights.”
Another woman shared data showing a disproportionate percentage of minority students making up a majority of suspensions versus those of white students.
Still another complained that some employers believe they can avoid being charged with discrimination of a minority when they have other minorities on their payroll.
“And if those people just go along because they’re afraid of losing their job if they don’t keep their mouth shut, nothing happens,” a woman said.
Lassiter said in all cases, the PHRC will connect complainants with the enforcement chief counsel to investigate.
'Work toward a unified result'
Lassiter also shared data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Anti Defamation League and FBI Civil Rights Division that showed over the past five years, Pennsylvania ranked high among hate groups such as white supremacists, neo-Nazis and neo-fascists.
“We need to be very proactive in these cases,” Lassiter said. “Remember [President Clinton advisor] James Carville once said there’s Philadelphia, there’s Pittsburgh and ‘Pennsyltucky’ in between. We don’t believe that. But there is a brokenness here.
“Locals have a keener sense of the urgent issues, needs and priorities of their communities. What’s why we come here, to listen and learn and lead us to what we need to do.”
"They can be believers, they can be Trump supporters, they can be Democrats, they can be independents. But the Beloved Community says, 'Come on in, and when you come in, let's have a conversation.'"Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
A national authority with 25 years' experience in race relations, Lassiter defined a Beloved Community as one that doesn't have to agree on everything, but can have levels of civility regarding it.
"The Beloved Community says that you can have people who are part of the community who are atheists, agnostics, Scientologists," Lassiter told the gathering.
"They can be believers, they can be Trump supporters, they can be Democrats, they can be independents. But the Beloved Community says, 'Come on in, and when you come in, let's have a conversation.'"
Said Cheryl Johnson Watts, of Bath, a former resident of Allentown:
"What the Beloved Community concept means to me is that people rise above their individual circumstances and see the collective need and begin to work toward a unified result."
But regarding discrimination, Lassiter assures this: The PHRC will not take it sitting down.
To file a complaint about discrimination, contact the PHRC regional office in Philadelphia at 215-560-2496.
