Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Florida City's First Black Female Firefighter Files Lawsuit After Mural Depicts Her As White

Florida City's First Black Female Firefighter Files Lawsuit After Mural Depicts Her As White
PalmBeachPost/YouTube

Boynton Beach city officials are meeting this week to review a lawsuit filed by the city's first Black female firefighter after her image was whitewashed in a public mural.

Latosha Clemons, who worked for the city for 26 years is suing for $100,000 in damages according to the lawsuit filed in April.


Clemons first reacted to the mural after it was unveiled in June 2020.

www.youtube.com

Clemons became the first Black deputy fire chief. She approved the original image to be used in 2019.

However, sometime between Clemons approval and when the mural was finished in 2020, the image was adjusted. Instead of her image, the face was adjusted to reflect Clemons as a White firefighter.

The change to the mural was unbelievable.





After the unveiling of the mural, the city's public art manager and fire chief were removed from their positions.

Matthew Petty, the former fire chief, was removed from his position and later resigned. Debby Coles-Dobay, the former public arts manager says she was pressured by Petty and his staff to change Clemons' image.

Clemons is suing the city for defamation, libel and negligence.

The complaint says:

"Being depicted as White was not only a false presentation of Clemons, it was also a depiction which completely disrespected all that the first female Black firefighter for the city had accomplished."
"By allowing the mural to depict Clemons as someone of a completely different race, White, a race the city presumably felt better fit the image it was looking to project."





Mayor Steven B. Grant said the city commission will gather this week at a closed-door meeting to discuss the lawsuit. The city's official position is a denial of the allegations, claiming the employees who are responsible changed the approved design without public leaders' consent.

Grant told The Washington Post:

"We don't understand why this happened."

Commenters online knew exactly why this happened.




An updated version of the mural with a proper representation of Clemons image was unveiled several months after the original, but it did little to quell the damage.

Attorneys for Clemons and the city are expected to meet for a mediation next month according to court documents.

Where this case goes from there remains to be seen.

More from Trending

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less