We See You... We Know You're Out There...
To send the recently published articles about the racial discomfort happening in some departments of the City of Beacon, namely Highway and Water right now, I wrote something special to the newsletter subscribers. I wanted you to see it too - because not everyone is subscribed to the ALBB newsletter. A few notes, however, before I proceed:
I do not like using first person here. And I do not like interjecting myself into these stories. There is a person commenting to me in the 30-Day Unpaid Leave story, who seems very upset at the City Administrator’s treatment in that article. This is not a drama I want to continue. We all have better things to do. Like keep our jobs and treat people with respect. But.
This type of story needs a personal narrative. Otherwise, it will get glossed over. Civil Service is too boring with this slodge of requirements. And that tedium is what has given all of this protection. Boring Civil Service stuff, and decisions made in “Executive Session,” those private meetings that happen after public City Council meetings.
This story is being pursued so heavily because it is not just about Reuben Simmons. It is about so many employees with the city - Water, Highway, Beacon City School District Building Department, maybe Police. And it’s not just this year. It’s decades ago. It’s part of Beacon’s fabric. And probably Wappingers. And Fishkill. And Poughkeepsie. So we’re going hard on this topic. A slap of cold water on the face because it’s not OK. I mean… What personal stories do you want us to put up here? Personnel files are denied paper trails. There are no other places for inquisitive people to go. Don’t challenge this story if you don’t want inequalities revealed, of what white employees get away with when employed, while Black employees are dismissed. Keep insisting on this, keep treating people unequally, and the stories will follow. I don’t know what else to tell you.
The Message Newsletter Subscribers Received:
On Friday, while ALBB sends the happy weekend retail newsletter, one of the City of Beacon’s employees, who normally plows snow from the streets and fixes stop signs, was in a “Hearing” with city officials, listening to how his job would be taken from him. Community organizer and volunteer, Reuben Simmons, is mixed race and identifies as Black. He has worked for the City of Beacon since 2002, coming in as “Summer Help” and at one point, making it up to Highway Superintendent. He was placed on Unpaid Leave for 30 days starting January 2021, during a pandemic, during Black History Month, and after the City of Beacon legislated a Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement.
A Little Beacon Blog has been following this story for two years, recorded a podcast on it, and has several articles that present more of the story than what is widely known today. The story is being told because it impacts other people - people who work in Civil Service (jobs in Police, Highway, Water, etc. departments) and in many ways, how Black people are treated in an environment within those jobs.
While Reuben's professional fate at this time is unknown, he says this about his years-long experience with this issue: "Maybe I'm the best person to be in it. I'm embarrassed to be in this. I'm ashamed of the city. In my 19-year career here. It's disturbing and disgusting. Beacon is better than this."
The articles closely covering this are below. But first, we have to unpack the silent segregation in the room.
The Silent Segregation In The Room
Listen. When your family says racist things to you - thinking you'll laugh at their statement, observation, joke, whatever - you don't divorce your family. I mean, you could divorce your spouse of course, but your blood family is your family. When they say an egregiously racist thing to you - about any race - Black, Arab, Puerto Rican, Asian - anybody - it takes a tremendous amount of courage to call them out and ask them to stop. Better to get that out of their heart. To not think those statements in the first place.
The only way to do that is to call out your friend. Your family. Beacon as a community is family. We have all heard the racist statements made. To different degrees, we have heard them in our homes. In our driveways. On the sidewalk. In the grocery store. At a City Council Meeting from the Public Comment microphone to whispers or hollers in the audience area of the courtroom (listen to minute 51 of the City Council meeting years ago when the Highway Department cheered a new hire after someone or something triggered Reuben's job to get dissolved by Civil Service law).
Additionally, extremely condescending statements or chuckles count as impacting someone's life the same way direct racist statements do. Those in and of themselves are oppressive in any situation for any race or gender. Every day, every one of us - even those of us writing about it - needs to keep ourselves aware of what we say and think and do to others. Little people around you - kids in school - may have already put someone in their place. Because they are growing up right now in this open environment, are seeing their adults struggle through it, and are so far, hopefully, having clearer vision.
Black people in this community have not been heard regarding their employment opportunities and experiences. Laws exist to keep those experiences very private and confidential. Having no other official and legal avenue to be heard (lawyers are expensive, and even during that time they’re involved, rules can require something to be private; sometimes nondisclosure is a requirement for settlements, thereby locking the issue into secrecy forever), people from the Black community - mixed race, Jamaican, and people from more cultures - have started using open mics at rallies in Beacon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and surrounding communities to hope their voices are heard.
Beaconites cannot not hear these voices anymore. No PDF on a website or a wall is going to fix this. It has come time to say: "Dude. Bro. Girlfriend. It is time to take a deep look into your roots, into your soul, ask yourself why you are so comfortable making someone else so uncomfortable and not heard, and begin your journey to uproot that from your body."
Some of you are going to unsubscribe from this newsletter right now. We see you each time you do it when we feature something remotely Black. Others will reply with a "Thank You." And that's all we need to keep going.
The time has come to talk about this. Beacon is not alone in the treatment of people in Civil Service (aka City or County jobs). This is a nationwide issue that is currently not on the national radar, as police reform is/was. Civil Service needs a second look.
Thank you.