It was a privilege to return to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in late October when we hosted another in the Commission’s Civil Rights Public Lecture Series. Our keynote speaker – Dr. Roland G. Fryer Jr., Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the Chief Equality Officer at the New York City Department of Education – highlighted his efforts in narrowing the Racial Achievement Gap, one of this country’s most pressing social concerns.

I have always been clear about my views on education: there is nothing more important in this world than to be educated and informed. Kofi Annan, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner, once said, “Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”

Equity in education is not only a human right, but a civil right as well, and translates as leveling the playing field so each student is afforded the same opportunity in life. This City is committed to ensuring that our schools work for all children, and I am confident Dr. Fryer will achieve the same success here in New York City as he did in Dallas, getting children motivated to read, to learn, and to reach their potential.

We are planning the third in our Civil Rights Public Lecture Series set for April 2008. The Commission will feature Dr. Robert D. Putnam – Professor of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Visiting Professor and Director of the Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change at the University of Manchester (UK) – who will discuss the impact of our increasing social diversity on community life, and the implications of his latest research into community, identity, and trust. Our first in this series featured Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton, former Commissioner/Chair of the NYC Human Rights Commission, and also highlighted a study conducted by two Princeton University Professors, with assistance from the Commission, of the impact of race, ethnicity and criminal records on securing entry-level positions.

Being aware of the many causes of inequality is just one of the first steps toward narrowing the racial achievement gap. When people are informed, I believe they do the right thing.