Great Lakes Wire

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission recently held its first business meeting of 2022 and elected officers for the year.

Elected to serve as chair of the commission is Portia Roberson, elected as vice chair is Commissioner Zenna Elhasan and elected to serve as secretary is Commissioner Gloria Lara. Commission officers serve one-year terms, according to a Michigan.gov press release.

"It's an honor to serve as the new chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission," Roberson said, according to the release. "I congratulate Commissioner Elhasan and Commissioner Lara on their elections as vice chair and secretary, respectively. I look forward to working with Executive Director John Johnson, my fellow commissioners and the department." 

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission recently elected Portia Roberson Elected to serve as chair. | YouTube

According to the release, the Commission voted in November to support four areas of focus for their work in the coming year and to establish committees to lead those efforts. Commissioners identified to chair each committee are:

• Commissioner Anupama Kosaraju - chair of the Voting Rights Committee.
• Commissioner Zenna Elhasan - chair of the Committee on Safe and Equitable Learning Environments.
• Commissioner Gloria Lara - chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
• Chair of the Environmental Justice Committee will be determined at a future meeting of the commission.

The commission also voted to establish a Human Resources Committee responsible for conducting the performance evaluation of Executive Director Johnson. Serving on that committee will be Commissioners Gloria Lara and Regina Gasco-Bentley, according to the release.

"The Michigan Civil Rights Commission was created by the Michigan Constitution to safeguard constitutional and legal guarantees against discrimination," the release states. "The commission is charged with investigating alleged discrimination against any person because of religion, race, color or national origin, genetic information, sex, age, marital status, height, weight, arrest record, and physical and mental disability. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights serves as the operational arm of the commission."