Newport This Week

Tempers Run High Over Council Racial Bias Mandate



The resolution was planned to denounce hate. Instead, it created anger.

A resolution designed to mandate implicit racial bias training for all city employees and the City Council was tweaked after a 75-minute emotional torrent among those who penned it and the public, who accused older white councilors of “not having a clue” as to its significance.

Mayor Jamie Bova and councilors Angela McCalla and Susan Taylor introduced a resolution which said, in part:

“We the Newport City Council have a duty as civic leaders to speak out against hatred and violence and stand for human rights. We thank the Newport County NAACP for their work promoting civil rights and human rights, and condemning violence … and we stand in solidarity with those protesting violence against Black Americans … the Newport City Council strongly condemns all hate speech and use of racist slurs … and implicit bias training shall be provided to all employees of the City of Newport and to the City Council.”

The June 10 resolution was sparked by a May 19 Zoom COVID-19 workshop that was marred by swearing and racial slurs, most directed at McCalla, a gay person of color.

“I knew when I ran for office, my color would be in an issue,” said McCalla. “This attack that I faced is what people in our community face every day. The history of Newport and the history of slavery are intertwined.”

She thanked various community groups who began the conversation. “Racial bias and prejudice is alive and well in Newport,” she said.

In a city nearly 400 years old, she asked why people of color are in mostly servile positions.

Councilor Kathryn Leonard read a statement stating that racist slurs were ugly, but said she didn’t want the city categorized as a place that housed it regularly.

“I don’t want to see Newport perceived as an ugly place to live,” she said, lauding many of the city’s unique gifts. “It’s a community where we care about each other.”

She called the resolution, “really accusatory.”

Councilor Justin McLaughlin shared his concerns in an email to Bova the night before the meeting. He also contacted McCalla, citing how the resolution might be improved, but said, “Councilor Mc- Calla chose not to do so.”

Councilor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano called the issue “much deeper [and] broader.

“I don’t think there is a person on this council who doesn’t believe in the spirit it was done … but our job is to set the policy,” she said. “Set up a workshop to cover the broader issues … But the discussion has to be had first.”

Responding to those comments, School Committee member Stephanie Winslow spoke up.

“I am embarrassed and appalled,” she said. “I am shaking with anger at these lectures. Councilors Leonard, Napolitano and McLaughlin have shown me they haven’t got a clue. Is it that you feel threatened? That you are part of the problem? Are you afraid of finding out you are who you thought you were? The one thing I am grateful for is that you will be gone soon and a new generation will [come in] and work harder.”

After the amendment ultimately passed to urge councilors to take the training, as opposed to mandating it, a shaken Napolitano said, “This has turned out to be very divisive, unfortunately, and very hurtful. All the public is doing right now is attacking. I’m the one disappointed.”

“I’m disappointed that this has gone down the way it did,” said McLaughlin. “There’s tremendous opportunity for growth at all levels. I regret it happened this way. Had [Mayor Bova] just reached out to [the] council in a robust way, and garnered their support beforehand, this would have happened a lot differently. I have no guilt and no shame for what I’ve done in the past.”

The seeds of the resolution started at the Zoom workshop and grew larger, Bova said, especially in light of the racial equality rally in Newport on June 6.

“It was a really moving event,” she said. “This will be the first step of many we take as a council to examine where we are going.

McLaughlin said that Bova should have reached out to each member of the council to weigh every word. “You are not going to get my vote cheaply,” he said. “This is not the way to fix it. I am 76, and I have seen more statements about hate speech and racial slurs, and two months later, nothing happened. I fault you very much for the way you handled this. You could have gotten seven strong votes from this council.”

He said that his resolution would say that the City Council, in order to understand racial inequity, should embrace the opportunity to receive this training.

Councilor Lynn Ceglie supported the “spirit” of the resolution, but said. “I cannot endorse us requiring training of city employees. That is not our job. That’s against the [city] charter.

“We need to make a recommendation to the city manager as to that type of training. We just can’t impose it,” she said. “But this particular mandate is not within our purview.”

Taylor said she signed off on the resolution when the hateful slurs at the May 19 workshop unsettled her.

“We are trying to get to the implicit bias, [and] privileges set by race,” she said. “It is the communication we want to foster [with] regular, consistent changes.”

A shaken McCalla mentioned emails sent to her to “defund the police.” She cited Minneapolis, which has taken action to defund its police department. “We must work with the community to do what is best for Newport, with deeper more meaningful conversations,” she said.

“I was going to thank the council, but right now, I am absolutely devastated by this,” she said. “I hope people can get past petty disagreements to face the real challenges we face.”

“If you want people to rise out of poverty, it is going to happen with care and education,” countered Leonard, who cited racial injustice she witnessed during a long teaching career in Connecticut. “How do you care enough to go there and work at it?”

Prominent members of the public then lashed out at the council.

“I have learned a ton about black history and many of the limits that I had not been aware of,” said School Committee member Louisa Boatwright. “You just don’t know what you don’t know. People are brought up in situations and not exposed to what others have experienced. Racism is learned and we should have everybody go through something like this.”

Tim Neary, husband of School Committee member Aida Neary, added, “My biracial children call me peach [colored]. We need experts. We need expertise. We need knowledge. I regularly teach a civil rights course to college students, most of whom are white. This generation is hungry for knowledge, hungry for action. To pretend that Newport doesn’t have something to learn shows a lack of humility. There is room for improvement in Newport. This is not a burden. This is an opportunity. Leaders act as role models.”

Resident Amy Machado said she was appalled by what she heard and apologized to McCalla. She told Napolitano to “Make this first step in training.” She shouted at McLaughlin, “You are a failed leader.”

School Committee member Rebecca Bolan tried to be positive. “I am excited for the change that is going to happen. We will make it happen,” she said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.