Delaware may consider creating an outside group to review discrimination complaints by public workers or take other action against a reported culture of racism in state offices.
That's the upshot of a meeting that faith and NAACP leaders held with Gov. Jack Markell Wednesday.
The closed-door session with the Committee on Racism in State Government focused on a report compiling years of allegations from state employees.
In public and private forums with the Committee last year, as well as via phone and email, around 200 workers reported being targets of everything from racist jokes and slurs in their lunchrooms, to openly discriminatory hiring and management practices in their departments.
The most, 26 percent, reported hostile work environments, according to a summary of the Committee's report made public Wednesday. Twenty-four percent complained of discrimination in recruitment, hiring or promotion. Others described outright discrimination, retaliation or disciplinary action.
Most said there had been no redress for their complaints, and that they had little faith in the complaints system.
Sussex County NAACP president Jane Hovington says she was "appalled" that only one in nearly 200 complaints from 2012 to 2015 was found to have cause.
"I just could not believe that this many people had complaints that had not been addressed," she says.
In a statement, the governor's office says Markell “continues to be committed to giving this issue the attention it deserves," adding that the governor was glad for the chance to discuss the Committee's report and "the administration's ongoing review."
The statement also says the meeting focused in part on "improving the complaints process."
Hovington says that included interest in forming one independent group to review all reports of discrimination: "that an agency would be set up that would handle these, and they could go outside of their department," she says.
This was the first time the Committee on Racism has brought the governor its demands. Those include a federal civil rights investigation into state practices, and state funding for an independent assessment of how the state offices can make change in areas like diversity and race relations.
The Committee's report also calls for changes around punishments for perpetrators of racism and their departments, and the creation of an "enforcement authority" in that area, according to a summary of the report made public Wednesday.
It adds that the legislature should look into creating a Civil Rights Commission and a uniform state anti-discrimination policy, and the governor should form a task force to make sure all these steps are taken this month.
Statewide NAACP president Richard Smith says overall, "it seemed to be real good, and real positive, what's coming from the governor's mouth."
Hovington adds they'll have to keep pushing to make sure action is taken.
"It's one of those situations where we can't let it die," she says. "We have to stay on task in reference to these demands, because, truly, it's a serious problem."
Regardless, she says some workers who testified in the report will likely file lawsuits. The Committee will discuss those with the national NAACP and meet with Markell again in the coming weeks.