Pioneer black firefighter says city’s ‘racial insult’ cannot be ‘swept under the rug’

BOYNTON BEACH, Florida – As the first black woman to serve as the Deputy Fire Chief in the history of the town of Boynton Beach, Latosha Clemons is not afraid to continue to demand change in her community.

Clemons met with reporters on Friday after saying she was having trouble sleeping because city workers who harmed her earlier this year had not been held accountable.

“You have to get to the bottom of what’s going on in your departments, your leadership,” Clemons said, adding that she has served the city for over 20 years “with integrity, lead by example.”

Clemons claims that public records have revealed Lori LaVerriere, the city manager, was aware of the situation with a fire station mural depicting Clemons and other black pioneer firefighters.

City workers changed black faces to white when the purpose of the mural was to show black children and teens in the community that they might one day join the fire department as well.

Clemons stood next to his West Palm Beach lawyer Nicole Hunt Jackson, who said the decision by city officials to “whitewash” the mural was a “racial insult”.

Hunt Jackson and Clemons have both said he “cannot be swept under the rug”.

LaVerriere distanced herself from the fire station wall scandal by saying she was not aware of what was going on. She had the mural reinstalled and fired Matthew Petty as fire chief and Debby Coles-Dobay as manager of public arts.

Hunt Jackson said the changes to the mural were revealed to LaVerriere the day before the unveiling and that she knew what was going on. LaVerriere issued several statements saying she had not done so.

“Through a series of emails from April through June, there have been conversations about changing the mural,” Hunt Jackson said, adding that “the emails speak for themselves … and even though she hadn’t read the emails, she should have known. “

LaVerriere has yet to respond to Friday’s allegations. Clemons, who is the only black female firefighter in Boynton Beach, said new evidence has shown that what has been done is not enough to prevent something like this from happening again.

“My dad passed over there the other day, and he said, ‘Tosh I walked by and saw this mural.’ He says, “It looks like me on this mural. And it melted my heart, because not only, again, it affected me wholeheartedly, ”Clemons said. “It affected my family and the community.”

Watch the press conference

(Raw video)

Local 10 reporter Saira Anwer contributed to this report.