City Council, Human Rights Commission address NAACP recommendations

As a result of community-wide meetings hosted by the local chapter fo the NAACP, the Columbia City Council has multiple recommendations to consider at future meetings.

One of the five recommendations sent to the council concerns non-discriminatory hiring practices. After the Missouri legislature passed Senate Bill 43, which in part changed the standard for proving employment discrimination, the NAACP responded by issuing a state-wide travel advisory for the Show-Me state.

The Columbia chapter of the NAACP hopes to promote non-discriminatory hiring practices, but not as a retaliation to Senate Bill 43. “We can’t forget about what the state is doing, but we are working to become a model city,” Mary Ratliff, president of the local NAACP chapter, said. “We don’t have to wait for the senate or the legislature to do what we can do ourselves.”

City Council member Dr. Clyde Ruffin says they are “listening” to the concerns voiced at the community meetings, which are hosted by the local NAACP chapter. The next City Council meeting is Monday, November 6.

Ruffin says these issues are being discussed by city council members, but the public may not know about it. “These things are already being thought about, or are already in process,” Ruffin said. “But the message is not being effectively communicated to the community.”