Anti-Racist Groups Protest New Rules at Council Meeting (Video)

Darrell Davis, his Committee for Justice, and the Cortlandt-Peekskill Anti-Racism Coalition protested the Peekskill Common Council’s , calling them “kindergarten rules” created to silence their protests, and continued their allegations of racism in City Hall at last night’s Common Council meeting.

The rules had been amended in an effort to curb disruptive behavior at Council meetings; the result was more disruptive behavior, as activism groups protested the changes by defying the rules. Members of the group of about 15 spoke out while others were at the podium, argued with speakers and the council from the audience and talked beyond their allotted time limit.

Davis added to his complaints about the Peekskill Housing Authority Director Harold Phipps (whose contract was not renewed, but who is still working as Director while the PHA board seeks a replacement), claiming that Phipps has been retaliating against the anti-racism activists. CPARC members and others repeated their request that the city more aggressively train employees in racism and human rights. New complaints were added to the list of issues, many of which have been investigated by city officials whose work the group does not consider sufficient or sincere. 

“I know what it's like to walk around in white skin and think racism is bad things that happen to other people,” Robin Alpern told the council. “White supremacy is killing and harming all of us.”

The group also called the rules of conduct "unjust," a violation to civil rights, and a form of "bullying." Some likened the no clapping provision to kindergarten-level rules.

"You are not going to bully people into giving up on justice," Davis told the Council.

Mayor Mary Foster said the rules were amended in order to make all Peekskill residents feel comfortable coming to and speaking at Common Council meetings.

At the meeting where the amended rules were adopted, Foster said, “(many people have told us they) feel like if they come down and say something positive or different they feel they will get bullied, by physical (demeanor) or clapping. We want all our residents to feel comfortable coming here.”

Peekskill resident Leesther Brown echoed that sentiment, telling the Council, “We are really tired that we are citizens of Peekskill and we can’t say what we came here to say,” explaining that Davis, who currently lives in Mount Vernon but is from Peekskill, and the Cortlandt members of CPARC use a lot of meeting time at the podium.

Last night, Foster enforced the five minute limit for public speakers and “no calling out” rule more aggressively than in the past, but that did little to curb the disruptive behavior.

The groups started the meeting with loud clapping after the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, after a moment of silence for who died last week, the activists stood and read the Declaration of Independence as a group, in defiance of the city rules of conduct. They continued as Mayor Mary Foster advised them if they did not stop they would be called “out of order.” (You can watch this in the video above).

The amended code of conduct states that any one called “out of order” three times will be removed from the meeting by the Sergeant at Arms. The police chief and an officer did intervene when an altercation between two residents broke out, but no one was removed from the meeting or arrested.

The anti-racism groups performed a similar protest in January, when they read from the United States Constitution. January’s protest was sparked by the city's change in the placement of "citizens desiring to be heard" on the agenda, and by the same concerns over racism.

For the last year, Davis and anti-racism activists have attended almost every Council meeting with complaints of racism; a call for Phipps to be fired from the housing authority; complaints of retaliation against city staff by city management; and complaints about police brutality and several individual incidents.

The Council had the Police Chief Eugene Tumolo investigate allegations against his department and allegations that Phipps illegally entered women’s apartments at Bohlmann Towers, and Tumolo reported that his investigation found no complaints about Phipps and that the police department has not used unnecessary use of force in any of the situations that Davis and others have protested.

The Council has also implemented a zero tolerance policy and “customer service” training for city staff, which the activist groups say are insufficient. In May, Councilwoman Mary Beth McGowan to work with her to find solutions to his groups’ concerns.

Those talks have not gone successfully, according to Davis.

The new concerns the group has added to its list in recent weeks are: allegations of retaliation from Phipps and city staff; a lack of enforcement of the Zero Tolerance policy; Phipps’ continued presence at the PHA, the Council’s amendment to the Code of Conduct, specifically the rule that opposes clapping while a speaker is at the podium; and funding cuts for city buses, which several community gruops, including Davis' daughters' Staj and the Stajettes dance group, use for free transportation.

Watch part of the meeting in the video above, which shows the anti-racist groups reading from the Declaration of Independence and Davis' comments at the podium. You can watch the full video on the City of Peekskill website here.