They Literally Erased Me Off A Mural!

An image is worth a thousand ires.

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HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE NOW! VOTE THESE DUMBASS LAWMAKERS OUT OF OFFICE! STOP SUPPORTING ALL FORMS OF EXTREMISM!

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What the fuck is going on in Florida?

I swear America is fucked up right now. These folks are going crazy and its a damn shame. The culture wars are a part of the Republican playbook.

Boynton Beach city manager fires the art director out the cannon after a mural reveal had two Black firefighters depicted as white. One of the firefighters is suing the city for $100,000 because it was embarrassing and literally made to fit the majority white community.

Latosha Clemons, who rose the ranks to become Boynton's first Black deputy fire chief, is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, according to the lawsuit filed in April.

Attorneys will meet in a closed-door session with commissioners on Tuesday to seek direction in the case. Possibilities range from a settlement with Clemons to litigating the case in court. Clemons' attorneys have requested a jury trial.

A photograph of three women — Clemons and two white female firefighters — served as the template for the mural, which when completed, however, portrayed all three women as white. The 2019 project by the city's art commission to honor the fire department also included a depiction of Glenn Joseph, the city's former fire chief, who is also Black, and whose image also was represented as that of a white man.

Embarrassed officials removed the mural a day after it was unveiled at Fire Rescue Station No. 1 near City Hall on June 3, 2020.

The city also responded by firing Debby Coles-Dobay, the public arts manager, and removing Matthew Petty as fire chief. Cole-Dobay and Petty are white.

I was ashamed the city ignored my contributions.

Clemons worked 26 years for the city before retiring in 2020.

Whitewashing her likeness on the mural "completely disrespected all that Clemons.... had accomplished," according to the lawsuit, and "also demonstrated disrespect for the large black population" of Boynton Beach.

Petty pressured Coles-Dobay to revise the plan the mural was basedon and the city was "well aware of the change," the suit states.

Boynton Beach officials wanted Clemons depicted as white, "a race the city presumably felt better fit the image it was trying to project," according to court documents.

Whitewashing her likeness on the mural "completely disrespected all that Clemons.... had accomplished," according to the lawsuit, and "also demonstrated disrespect for the large black population" of Boynton Beach.

Petty pressured Coles-Dobay to revise the plan the mural was basedon and the city was "well aware of the change," the suit states.

Boynton Beach officials wanted Clemons depicted as white, "a race the city presumably felt better fit the image it was trying to project," according to court documents.

Clemons, 48, was born in Boynton Beach and began working for the city's recreation and parks department after graduating from Santaluces High School. She was encouraged to enroll in the fire academy by former Boynton Fire Chief Floyd Jordan, court documents say, and was hired after graduating from the academy by the city's fire department on June 20, 1996.

Clemons worked her way up to deputy fire chief, a position she held for three years before retiring in 2020.

Fallout for Clemons, the suit alleges, has included damage to her personal and professional reputations, loss of income and "subjected her to ridicule, contempt, disgrace and/or humiliation..."

The next court date listed in the case is a mediation session Nov. 30.