MARY FRANCES BERRY

A Courageous and Dedicated Friend
To America's Oppressed

by Judith Haney

USNewsLink/February 23, 2002

When Mary Frances Berry was asked recently about whether the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCRC) had outlived its usefulness and mandate, she answered this way:

"When the time comes that we stop getting complaints, or that people no longer feel they are being discriminated against, then that will be the time to dissolve the Commission."

Since 1980, when she was first appointed Vice Chair of the USCRC, Mary Frances Berry's name has been synonymous with civil rights advocacy.

But more recently as Chairwoman of the USCRC, Dr. Berry's name has been associated with a highly publicized fight with George Bush, #43. When President Bush attempted to replace a sitting board member of the USCRC, whose term had not expired, with an appointee of his own, Berry declared war, and she won.

Anyone unfamiliar with Dr. Berry's professional background as a lawyer and civil rights activist might assume that the public fight with Bush #43 would have caused her to kick into self-preservation mode. After all, a high profile fight with the President of the United States in his first year of office is not an enviable position to find yourself in if you are a government appointee. The potential damage to Berry's career and professional reputation, not to mention negative media exposure, would be enough for most people to rethink their actions and strategy.

But if anyone thought that Berry would back off from the Bush fight to avoid personal damage to her reputation, they just didn't know who they were dealing with.

For, in truth, the fight with Bush was a piece of cake, a walk in the park, for the woman with a history of staring down another President, i.e., Reagan. She won that too.

Berry also has a history of fighting another high profile battle as chair of the of the Pacifica Foundation. It seems that local advocates of alternative radio in California decided that Berry needed to resign as Chair. They picketed the station and attempted to take it over. Berry responded by throwing them all in jail and surrounding the station with armed guards. Berry eventually resigned, but not before exerting her enormous influence and sense of commitment to human rights upon the widely acclaimed foundation.

To sum it up, Berry has fought many wars over civil rights, and civil liberties. She operates like a highly disciplined five-star general and appears to relish any battle she thinks she can win.

Basically, at the center of this valiant woman, is a battle-worn soldier and a fearless, seasoned, leader.

Given Berry's long and distinguished history as a warrior for civil rights and the nation's oppressed, George Bush, #43, an untried, unseasoned, leader, exercised a gross error in judgment when he took her on. The inept, inexperienced, Bush manufactured a fight with Berry, and the outcome was analogous to a cat and mouse game, with Bush being the mouse!

In a manner of speaking, Berry ate Bush's lunch when she obtained a federal court order barring Bush's appointee from taking a seat on the USCRC. To say Berry's court room victory was an embarrassment for Bush, and his White House counsel, is an understatement.

Although powerful in style and demeanor, when talking about her job, Berry is down to earth, a straight talker, who does not mince words about the challenges facing enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In her capacity as Chair of the USCRC, a watchdog group, with subpoena power over all government agencies and private enterprise, she steers the ship with skill and deference to America's under represented class, i.e., minorities, women, and the handicapped.

She is the first to say that she wants the USCRC to stay focused on the issues and to function as intended in spite of Bush's attempts to interfere with the independence of the Commission. At the heart of Bush's battle with Berry is the oversight, watchdog, role the Commission plays which frequently pits it against Republicans in Congress who advocate easing environmental restrictions and other pro-business stances which serve to disenfranchise the nation's under-represented minority and disabled class.

Berry will also say that the political distribution of the Commission, i.e., one-half Republican and one-half Democrat, makes for incessant, inordinate, bickering which derails much of her leadership and takes up valuable time. Berry maintains that when the Commission spends its time absorbed in internal dissent, the actual work of the Commission is postponed thereby extending an unwitting invitation to corporate America to ignore and violate existing civil rights statutes. 

According to Berry, the bickering is a political ploy by Republicans to stave off pending actions of the Commission. Berry is on the record expressing her resentment of these high profile political ploys and publicly berates the Commission members who engage in such practices.

But never one to back down from a fight she believes in, Berry has repeatedly demonstrated her staying power and unwavering commitment in the face of personal assaults, harassment, and inordinate criticism of her personal style, in her two decade long fight to eliminate discrimination and oppression of Americans on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.

Thus far Berry has withstood politically motivated slings and arrows designed to bring her down. And in the process she has developed professionally in a manner which personifies and underscores the civil rights movement which she champions.

Yet, with all of her accomplishments and past victories, Berry is restless in her capacity as Chair of the USCRC.  She wants faster change and quicker enforcement action at the federal level against violators of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In a recent interview Berry stated that "parity of earnings for women in America has reverted to 1980's wages, and corporate America has failed to hire and promote women into top level management positions. " Her statement is backed up by the recent release of statistics which indicate that job discrimination complaints filed against private employers with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission increased in 2001 to the highest level in six years.

Berry's natural leadership ability combined with her commitment to enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against all who would seek to dismantle it, undermine it, and violate it, has won her a permanent place in America's history as a consistent voice against oppression, and a firm voice on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.