It is no accident that Mona Adkins-Easley is a public servant.
Easley’s mother, Iona Adkins, was clerk of Circuit Court for 21 years in Charles City County. Her brother, Byron H. Adkins, is the county’s director of social services.
Adkins-Easley, 34, was appointed this month to the post of director of the Council on Human Rights by Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
“My parents have been very active in Charles City and had a positive impact that made me want to be a participant,” Easley said.
Adkins-Easley, a Charles City native and resident, now runs what she called the state’s human rights watchdog.
Created in 1987 under the Virginia Human Rights Act, the agency fields and resolves discrimination complaints that arise in companies or organizations not affiliated with the government. That is separate from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, which handles charges of discrimination that originate from governmental organizations and agencies, Easley said.
Her priority since taking office April 1 has been to establish better procedures for filing and handling complaints. She said she hopes to get the EEOC certification required for her agency to handle some of the backlogged discrimination cases.
She is also seeking to get the act amended to allow the council enforcement power. The council has the right to step in and mediate discrimination disputes but must refer parties to the courts if the matter remains unresolved.
The 192 complaints received since the council’s creation in 1987 range from charges of racial discrimination used to prevent entry into a nightclub to complaints by males about preferential treatment on the job for pregnant women and free admission of females at nightclubs’ ladies’ night events, she said.
Not surprisingly, the number of charges of discrimination is low, she said. The agency, which has a $201,000 budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, has not been very visible, she said, and the process of filing a complaint and waiting for the outcome can be frustrating.
Often, people who have valid claims of discrimination “have a tendency to want to give up,” said Easley, who handled discrimination claims while working in personnel for the Southside Virginia Training Center in Petersburg. The Southside center is one of five in the state providing training for the mentally retarded.
Easley, a former legislative assistant to Del. C. Hardaway Marks, D-Hopewell, hopes to make the council more visible by going on the speaker’s circuit, including a stint at the State Fair.
She said she also will continue the distribution of newsletters to traditional civil and human rights organizations, such as churches and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The agency’s toll-free telephone number for discrimination claims is 1-800-633-5510.
Easley, who holds a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, chose to live in Charles City with husband Alexander and 2-year-old daughter Kaci because “it affords me the opportunity to think.”
She continues to be active locally in the Democratic Party, the Charles City County Civic League and the local NAACP.
