Human Rights Party (United States)
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The Human Rights Party (HRP) was a
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
political party that existed in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
during the early and mid-1970s. The party achieved electoral success in
Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
and Ypsilanti. It eventually expanded to include several other Michigan cities with large student populations. In 1975, the HRP became the Socialist Human Rights Party, and it later merged with the
Socialist Party of Michigan The Socialist Party of Michigan (SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of the Socialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in ...
.


Origins of the HRP

The organization was established in 1970 under the leadership of Zolton Ferency, and it quickly gained strength following the 1971 ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave 18-year-olds the right to vote. In October 1971, the Radical Independent Party of Ann Arbor, Michigan (RIP), which had been formed by members of the
Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...
, New University Conference, and International Socialists, merged with the HRP. The Human Rights Party’s platform included calls for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from foreign soil, the end of the
ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
and
Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...
, repeal of laws against
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
and
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
, the closure of all state
prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
, and provision of
day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
and
health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
based on ability to pay. Working to gain electoral votes among the city's large population of students at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, the HRP succeeded in electing two candidates to the Ann Arbor city council in 1972, and successfully defended one of the seats in 1974. Building support through rock concerts, local radio spots, and coverage in the underground press, the HRP won 25 percent of the 30,000 ballots cast in the 1972 Ann Arbor municipal election. The party's victors in the city-council races –
Jerry DeGrieck Gerald (Jerry) C. DeGrieck is a public health manager and policy advisor in Seattle, Washington. He and Nancy Wechsler served together on the Ann Arbor City Council, 1972–1974, while they were graduate students at the University of Michigan. I ...
, a history student at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, and Nancy Wechsler, a U-M graduate, both 22 years of age – defeated two professors, both of whom were Democrats, and one of whom was an incumbent member of the City Council. As DeGrieck later noted, the party garnered substantial support not only from students, but also from low-income voters and factory workers. In two other Ann Arbor
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
, reported the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', "the Human Rights Party drew off enough votes from the Democratic candidates to help conservative Republicans win." In the next-door city of Ypsilanti, the HRP elected two city council members in 1974, both of whom were re-elected in 1976. During the 1972 election, the HRP chose a fifteen-year-old
Sonia Yaco Sonia Yaco was the 1972 Human Rights Party candidate for the Ann Arbor, Michigan, school board. When she ran for office at the age of fifteen, she was the youngest documented candidate ever for a publicly elected school board seat in the United ...
, an activist affiliated with
Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor was an organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It existed from 1970 to 1979, and is often cited in more recent academic literature as one of the leading forerunners of several youth movements in the United States, ...
, as its Ann Arbor school-board candidate. Yaco's demands for a student voice in school governance earned her 1,300 votes as a
write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...
, or eight percent of the total, and indirectly influenced the establishment of the experimental
alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...
Community High School later that year. One of the first HRP candidates was Lawrence ("Larry") Pallozola, who unsuccessfully ran for school board in Garden City, Michigan, in the early 1970s.


The HRP in government


Ann Arbor City Council

From April 1972 to April 1973, the two Human Rights representatives were able to significantly influence the decisions of the Ann Arbor city council, since no political party held a majority. In addition to the HRP members, there were five Republicans and four Democrats. During their time on city council, HRP members successfully pushed for a number of progressive ordinances, including the city's famously lenient "five-dollar pot law," which had the effect of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
for personal use (see '' Cannabis laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan''). In addition, the HRP led a push for a citywide anti-discrimination ordinance, which banned discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, age, and religion. The ordinance was the first of its kind in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. In 1972, the pioneering ordinance was amended to add
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
, and to require affirmative-action measures by city contractors. On
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
issues, the party worked to restrict the construction of
fast-food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredient ...
chains in the city's
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
area. Alongside its electoral work, the HRP put on a number of protests, supported area workers' strikes, organized city tenants, and aided the
anti-war movement An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to ...
. As Nancy Wechsler told the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', the HRP also fought successfully to set aside federal revenue-sharing dollars for health and child care at a time when "most cities are spending revenue-sharing money for more police cars." At a joint press conference following a homophobic incident at a local restaurant, both of the 1972 HRP winners,
Nancy Wechsler Nancy Wechsler is an activist, writer, and former member of the Ann Arbor, Michigan#Law and government, Ann Arbor City Council, where she came out as a lesbian while serving her term. Elected to the City Council alongside fellow Human Rights Part ...
and
Jerry DeGrieck Gerald (Jerry) C. DeGrieck is a public health manager and policy advisor in Seattle, Washington. He and Nancy Wechsler served together on the Ann Arbor City Council, 1972–1974, while they were graduate students at the University of Michigan. I ...
,
came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
and
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
during their term on city council - thus simultaneously becoming the first openly lesbian and openly gay elected public officials in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. When Wechsler declined to run for reelection in 1974, her seat was won by HRP candidate
Kathy Kozachenko Kathy Kozachenko (born 1953) is an American politician who was List of the first LGBT holders of political offices, the first Coming out, openly lesbian or gay candidate to run successfully for political office in the United States.{{cite news, las ...
. Already publicly known to be a lesbian, she thus became the first openly
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
or lesbian candidate to be elected to public office in the United States.


Ypsilanti City Council

In 1974 the HRP activists in Ypsilanti helped to pass the Ypsilanti Marijuana Initiative, a $5 fine for marijuana use or possession. In the same election, the HRP elected council members
Eric Jackson Eric Jackson may refer to: *Eric Jackson (journalist) (born 1952), Panamanian politician, journalist, and radio talk show host *Eric Jackson (kayaker) (born 1964), freestyle kayaker, kayak designer, and founder of Jackson Kayak * Eric M. Jackson, ...
and Harold Baize to their first term of office. Jackson and Baize championed anti-discrimination, fair rental practices, women's rights, and environmental issues. When Ypsilanti police ignored the voter's mandate by enforcing State marijuana laws rather than the Ypsilanti Marijuana Initiative, Jackson and Baize called for an emergency meeting of the city council to deal with the issue. Although most of the other members of the city council boycotted the meeting, hundreds of citizens did not, resulting in a near riot. Human Rights Party city council members Eric Jackson and Harold Baize were re-elected in 1976 and continued their struggles for progressive policies. Following the loss of ballot status for the Michigan HRP, Harold Baize was elected to a third term as a Democrat in 1978. The Ypsilanti HRP changed its name to the Democratic Socialist Caucus and elected other members to the city council as well as electing Peter Murdock as
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
. At one point, the DSC controlled nine of the eleven city council seats as well as the mayor's position. It ceased to exist in 1986.


The HRP and instant-runoff voting in Ann Arbor

With the introduction of a strong
third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a Veh ...
in Ann Arbor, concerns grew among Democrats and HRP supporters that the city's progressive vote would be split, thus allowing Republicans to win offices on pluralities. This scenario came to pass soon after the emergence of the HRP. In 1973 Republican James E. Stephenson won the mayoral office with a plurality, defeating Democratic candidate Franz J. Mogdis and HRP candidate Benita Kaimowitz despite garnering only 47% of the vote. To head off a repeat of this result, the HRP spearheaded a
petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
campaign to place the
Instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
(IRV) system on the city ballot in spring of 1974. Most Democratic and HRP voters supported the proposal, which passed with 52% approval. In April 1975, during the first (and only) Ann Arbor mayoral race using IRV, the Republican incumbent James E. Stephenson received 49% of the first-choice ballots, leading his Democratic challenger Al Wheeler, who received 40%, and the HRP candidate Carol Ernst with 11%. However, since most HRP voters had ranked Wheeler as their second choice, these votes moved to the Democrat's column, and Wheeler won the election by a slim 121 votes, becoming the city's first
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
mayor. The election represented the first use of IRV in a U.S. mayoral contest. The
IRV IRV or Irv or ''variant'', may refer to: *Instant-runoff voting, a type of ranked preferential voting counting method used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates *Irvine railway station, North Ayrshire, Scotland (National Rail stat ...
system survived a court challenge by Republicans, but
Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
voters repealed the system in an April 1976 special election. The IRV system was not again used in a
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
election until
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
began using a similar system in 2004.


End of the HRP

With the nationwide decline in
student activism Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...
, the Human Rights Party's power waned in the mid-1970s. In 1973, Ann Arbor's Democratic/HRP governing coalition lost power, as Republican James E. Stephenson won the mayoralty and Republicans also took control of seven of the ten council seats."Ann Arbor," ''Washington Post'', 4 Apr. 1973, p. A20. The Ann Arbor chapter lost its last remaining city-council seat in 1976. In 1975, the HRP became the Socialist Human Rights Party, and it later merged with the
Socialist Party of Michigan The Socialist Party of Michigan (SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of the Socialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in ...
. Some members joined the Democratic Party. However, several of its landmark initiatives, notably the Ann Arbor anti-discrimination ordinance and the lenient municipal marijuana penalties, survive in modified form to this day.


See also

*
Cannabis in the United States The use, sale, and possession of Cannabis (drug), cannabis over 0.3% Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC in the United States, despite laws in many states permitting it under various circumstances, is illegal under Federalism in the United States, feder ...


References


Further reading

* Agis Salpukas, "2 Radicals Elected to Ann Arbor Seats," ''New York Times'', 9 April 1972.


External links


Archived HRP papers at the University of Michigan

MA Thesis by Terrence Restivo on the New Left in Ann Arbor, MI


from the ''Women's Review of Books'' website at Wellesley College. * {{Authority control Ypsilanti, Michigan Regional and state political parties in the United States Political parties established in 1970 Defunct democratic socialist parties in the United States Defunct social democratic parties in the United States Organizations based in Ann Arbor, Michigan 1970 establishments in Michigan 1975 disestablishments in Michigan Political parties disestablished in 1975