there are procedures!
August 28, 2014 — ST. PETERSBURG. As people were taking their seats for the Thursday afternoon session of the St. Petersburg City Council, some dude in a suit was talking with an elderly couple about the cause they were there to support, a resolution in support of Move to Amend, to “establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.”
The dude called it “the token thing,” adding, “The only way you can really push the government is right here” in those hallowed chambers.”
My wife Rose and I were there in support of the 20-some, mostly white and elderly Move to Amend folks in their bright orange T-shirts. Off to the left side of the chambers were a grouping of Black folks, clustered around a Black woman there who seemed to be their center of attention. Somehow it brought back memories of my 1964 high school cafeteria in Warren, Ohio.
A preacher opened the Council session by laying the Lord’s blessing upon Mayor Rick Kriseman, and the Council was in session. The Move to Amend people spoke on how money is not speech, corporations are not people, that we need to control corporate money flooding our electoral process. Rick Smith, FPSU chief of staff in St. Pete, spoke. He had something to say about an incident with the KKK in St. Petersburg. What the hell? This was 2014, St. Petersburg is a liberal city, it had just last November elected liberal Democrat Rick Kriseman as mayor, and seven out of eight City Council members were Democrats. There was some kind of stir among the Council members. I didn’t understand. More Move to Amend. The Black woman now spoke. She was angry about how she had not been allowed to speak the week before since she hadn’t properly signed up then.
Now she was signed up. Now she said her piece. White foreman John Paquette from the city’s Stormwater Department had spray-painted KKK on the back of Black worker Donald Pittman. After the paint job, Pacquette said, “I sprayed KKK on your back,” and then laughed.
The Black woman was Robin Wynn, an acting supervisor. She complained. The city said it would investigate. This happened last October 23, 2013. It was now August.
Nothing to see here, keep moving
Council members were concerned. They were surprised.
- Someone said they had gotten a report back from Kriseman about training, a citywide [racial] climate survey, a “cultural confidence” program.
- Retaliation for filing a complaint is bad. The city has a policy against retaliation, you know.
- Anyone is free to lodge a complaint. Terminations can be reviewed.
- Kriseman will not get involved since the incident occurred before he took office, and it was not his problem.
- A city attorney pointed out to Wynn that she could file a complaint with the EEOC. (Wynn already has, thank you.)
- The policies are posted in employee locker rooms and such so they all know their rights.
- The only power the Council has is management evaluations.
- The Diversity Commission can send a strong message.
- Kriseman can do nothing.
- Institutional racism? Well, “Every incident is looked at individually.”
- Everything is a long-standing practice.
Finally, it was announced, “An investigation is in process, and we need to let that happen, let it go through its process, and then we will see what happens.”
I believe the Council’s concern was genuine. Everyone was saying the right things. According to the rules, where “The only way you can really push the government is right here,” their powers were so limited. But take a step back. Yes, everyone was saying the right things. But the incident took place last October. Everyone was saying the right things, the right things to say in 1964, 50 years ago.
Sure, at the 1963 inauguration of Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, he had stood on the steps of the Alabama Capitol and proclaimed, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” But how many decent folks actually believed that “forever” was going to last more than 50 years and counting?
Robin Wynn Speaks out
Wynn, 52. was a chapter chair for the Florida Public Services Union (FPSU) for 6 years, and vice president at the state level for two terms. She has worked for the city for 20 years, and is currently a chief steward in the city’s Stormwater Department, which uses inmates from the city’s prison system to clean out ditches, cut down trees, and load them on the back of trucks.
“When this first went on,” Wynn remembers vividly, “Donald Pittman was working on John Pacquette’s crew. Donald came to me in tears and said, ‘Robin, I’ve got something to tell you.’ I asked what? He said, ‘John Pacquette sprayed KKK on the back of my shirt.’ I immediately got on my phone and called Andre Allen, another chief steward, and asked Andre to take pictures of Pittman’s shirt. Andre said, ‘what happened?’ I said that John Pacquette had sprayed KKK on the back of Pittman’s shirt. Andre being another chief steward, it became a union matter right then and there.”
Wynn has suffered serious harassment for complaining. She is called a trouble-maker. She has functioned as acting supervisor for two years, yet the city has refused to give her the official position.
“The city justifies it by saying there’s no money in the budget,” she explains, “so we’ve got to cut back. Then this guy just came to me with a big smile on his face and told me the city was going to hire for three other positions, for three dollars more than what I’m making. I tell him, get real. That’s a slap in my face. You’re going to create a Stormwater lead worker position and pay them $25 an hour, to the same position that I’m doing now?
“They say me and Andre are always stirring up the pot,” Wynn continues. “They don’t realize, we don’t stir up the pot. We’re chief stewards. If any union member or non-member comes to us with issues, with a complaint, it’s our job and our duty to take it to management, and then take it back to the members. That’s not stirring up the pot. That’s my job. My city hat is being a worker, my union hat is to be a chief steward. They call me the union leader.”
Wynn’s job is especially taxing because she supervises inmates from the jails who have to work for the city. “Yes sir, nobody works with the inmates here but my crew, and we work with the prison guards. I mean, you’ve got to be a special person to work with 10 inmates, serving for various dangerous crimes. Nobody but me has been doing that for 20 years.”
Just like [bad] old times
Wynn relates how the working environment is tense. “We’re segregated every day. When you walk in our front door, you see the whites sit on one side, and the Blacks sitting on the other side. We don’t associate with each other at all, none whatsoever.
“The Council members were all concerned,” she said. “Amy Foster is my friend, Wengay Newton, Donna Rice, Karl Nurse [all Council members], we’ve all done a lot of things together, they were blown away by what happened. I could see it on their faces, it was like the 1930’s. I feel like I’m back in Alabama, I can’t believe it’s going on in St. Pete. Yes man, it’s going on in St. Pete and the city is sweeping it under the rug One mayor going out, one mayor coming in. I sat at the table with Mayor Kriseman and some union members, about eight of us, I sat there in that room, and I told them what happened. The mayor even had pictures. He said he would get back to us. He never did.
“How can you shy away from an issue like this?” Wynn asked. “Back in 1996, this city was in turmoil about the Tyron Lewis thing.”
Our fair city 1996.
In 1996, 18-year-old Tyron Lewis was pulled over by police. A witness stated that Lewis pleaded, “Please don’t shoot, please don’t shoot, I ain’t even got nothing!” He was gunned down in his car, sparking rioting that night, and more rioting when the police were exonerated.
“We had racial riots, burning down buildings,” Wynn warned. “All it takes is one incident to tear this city apart. And it’s 2014. We shouldn’t be having racial issues right now. Look at Ferguson, Missouri. St. Pete is just one step away from having something like that happen. Look at the police department.”
In March, the Tampa Bay Times reported, “The decades-old strain between the black community and the Police Department has permeated the agency’s rank-and-file. Roughly 125 black police officers, city activists and clergy members met behind closed doors late Tuesday with Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin to discuss widespread racial turmoil. Tensions ran high during the 90-minute meeting …
“Kriseman also would not comment on the issues … In the recent election, the Suncoast Police Benevolent Association was among [former Mayor] Foster’s biggest supporters, pouring money into his campaign and providing foot soldiers to canvass streets for votes. Several people reminded Tomalin on Tuesday that the black community helped put Kriseman in City Hall.”
Not on my watch!
“Workers speak out but no one listens. Why should I go out, when my own city won’t listen? When I go to my City Council, if I go to my mayor, somebody should be listening. I shouldn’t have had to go to the EEOC when I have my own inside source, when my own city, should be listening. Something has to be very hurtful for me to have gone to the EEOC to get somebody to listen. I have my own mayor, I helped to get you elected, and you turn your back on this issue. You come to my city, my neighborhood, to cut ribbons. You come to my football games, baseball games, eat my hot dogs, you smile and grin But when the issue of racism comes up, you turn your back. He’s always talking about his vision, but he’s forgot about the people’s vision. I’m tired of hearing about his vision. What about the people’s vision?”
“I’m all for equality and justice,” Wynn declared. “I don’t care what color you are, red or green, I’m all for equality and justice to better our lives. I have four grandkids, and I don’t want my grandkids going through the same stuff I’m going through right now. My oldest grandchild is 11 years old right now, my youngest is three. This is a hard world right now, and I want what’s better for them coming up.
“One issue can tear this city apart like happened in Ferguson, Missouri. Well, I’m not going to let it happen on my watch.”
# # #
“The only way you can really push the government is right here”?
The Council met later Thursday night, August 28. It unanimously endorsed the Move to Amend resolution. In other business, the Tampa Bay Times reports:
- Skateboarders are now allowed downtown.
- Residents are allowed to own miniature goats and sheep.
- The Wildwood Recreation Center was renamed for longtime city employee and community volunteer Thomas “Jet” Jackson, who got a standing ovation in City Hall chambers.
— Jeff Roby
09/04/14
