On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy defeated the Southern segregationists' filibuster, empowered by the courage of the people in St. Augustine, and the arrogance of the white power structure here.
I was honored to share lunch with several of them in 2014 at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, in a delicious meal cooked by Cora Lee Tyson, who also cooked for Dr. King. Cora Tyson Lee, 95, is the grandmother of our friend Kenneth McClain, Sr.
Inspired by Dr. King, Dr. Robert S. Hayling, D.D.S. and Andrew Young, later our UN Ambassador under President Jimmy Carter, I am mindful that, as Dr. King said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
On May 11, 2019, I filed a complaint with the United States Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contact Compliance Programs (USDOL OFCCP), asking it to investigate the City of St. Augustine, Florida and its pattern and practice of employment discrimination.
I pointed out that top positions are often not posted and advertised, including the "current City Manager, City Attorney, General Services Director, Public Works Director, Budget and Performance Management Director, Financial Services Director, and other positions."
To assure that the complaint is timely, I included the Commissioners' March 4, 2019 hiring of Tracy Upchurch as Mayor, which violated equal employment laws.
While Mayor Upchurch's "election" might also be challenged on state law grounds -- violation of F.S. 119 and 286, and violation of the First Amendment rights, no one has sued in state court.
The USDOL OFCCP complaint provides an independent basis of subject matter jurisdiction for a federal agency to investigate ALL of the City of St. Augustine's hiring practices.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted as a result of the courage of people in St. Augustine who joined Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Robert S. Hayling, D.D.S., and Rev. Andrew Young, later our United Nations Ambassador,
The complaint alleges that the City of St. Augustine:
1. Inflicted non-BFOQ requirements for a paid job vacancy for the position of Mayor of St. Augustine after Mayor Nancy Shaver's stroke and her February 28, 2019 resignation, by:
A. falsely stating that current Commissioners were ineligible to apply based on an erroneous interpretation of Florida election law,
B. failing and refusing to advertise the Mayor position vacancy in a manner that would attract diverse qualified applicants,
C. refusing to share information on Mayor vacancy applications in response to my Open Records requests,
D. denying any meaningful public comment at a March 4, 2019 Commission meeting, which was held in the morning with title notice, and outside the ordinary course of business
E. allowing public comment only before the names of applicants were revealed at the March 4, 2019 Commission meeting,,
F. limiting consideration of applicants at the March 4, 2019 meeting only to persons who had previously been Mayor, in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws, with
G. the next Mayor "elected" after a 37 minute meeting on March 4, 2019.
2. City has a custom, usage, practice, policy and procedure of discrimination, creating and maintaining a hostile working environment and hiring only white heterosexual people for professional and technical jobs, without proper posting or advertising of job vacancies and without compliance with OFCCP/EEO requirements, including current City Manager, City Attorney, General Services Director, Public Works Director, Budget and Performance Management Director, Financial Services Director, and other positions.
3. City was long allegedly run by the Ku Klux Klan and was called "the most lawless" and racist City in America by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Please initiate an OFCCP pattern and practice investigation for hostile working environment and discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, protected disclosures, protected activity, opposition to unlawful discrimination and exercising OFCCP, EEO, 15th Amendment and Voting Rights Act rights.
5. I am an openly Gay man who was invited to write the first article on Gay marriage for an American Bar Association publication (1991), and successfully represented the plaintiff in the landmark Gay Rights case of Duane David Rinde v. Woodward & Lothrop Co. (1989-1990). I am a person with disabilities (arthritis and eyesight) and am 62 years of age. I have lived in St. Augustine since November 5, 1999. I have for more than fourteen (14) years publicly opposed the City's unlawful discriminatory policies, practices and procedures in City meetings, communications and publications, while:
A. helping recruit lawyers and plaintiffs and perform research to help Gay people win a June 7, 2005 federal court First Amendment victory, Jensen v. City of St. Augustine, 3:05-CV-504-J-25HTS TRO (M.D. Fla. 2005)(ordering Rainbow flags flown on our historic Bridge of Lions June 8-13, 2005 in honor of Gay Pride).
B. successfully opposed City's illegal dumping of landfill in lake in African-American community of West Augustine, 2005-2008,
C. successfully opposed Citys illegal plans to bring contaminated solid waste to historical African-American community of Lincolnville to create a "park," 2007-2008,
D. filing administrative complaints regarding City's racism and discrimination,
E. questioning City' illegal annexation policies in violation of the 15th Amendment and Voting Rights Act, commencing in April 2005, and
F. other OFCCP protected activity as a journalist, citizen and activist to be detailed to the OFCCP investigators
6. In response to my protected activity, the City Managers of the City of St. Augustine have over the years discriminated and retaliated against me and created a hostile working environment for me as a journalist, citizen and activist:
A. threatened me with arrest in April 2005 in retaliation for alleging Fifteenth Amendment violations in annexations,,
B. issued an illegal no-trespass order in December 2014,
C. blocked me from attending a City-sponsored conference May 5-8, 2019 on the effects of global ocean level rise on historic properties, "Keeping History Above Water," denying a press pass without any written document, policy or reason ever provided,
D. violated my voting rights by purporting to redefine City boundaries in 2007 in response to my filing to run for office in 2006, by resolution and not by ordinance, with no public comment allowed and no bona fide public purpose,
E. sought to deny my First and Ninth Amendment rights to speak out against the City's pattern and practice of discrimination by limiting public comment in meetings, denying comment on ordinance first readings, resolutions and reports, contrary to the practice in other local governments.
7. City receives federal grants from HUD, FEMA and other federal agencies.
8. Please bring an action against the City of St. Augustine, pursuant to the precedent written by my late mentor, U.S. Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt, in OFCCP v. Harris Trust Bank (1986).
9. Please seek full remedial relief, including creation of an independent Ombuds and Inspector General, procedures for independent investigation of discrimination and whistleblower complaints, and monitoring, inspired by the landmark precedent in Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc., 760 F. Supp. 1486 (M.D. Fla. 1991), where United States District Judge Howell Melton, a St. Augustine resident and legal scholar, remedied a pervasive hostile working environment, sexual misconduct and harassment directed against the women at another dysfunctional employer.
10. Please bring an action to remedy and transform systemic discrimination and end the hostile working environment created by the dysfunctional City government of St. Augustine, Florida, most recently reflected in the unseemly manner in which four white City Commissioners -- LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN, NANCY SIKES-KLINE, ROXANNE HORVATH and JOHN OTHA VALDES -- swiftly, openly, notoriously and unanimously voted March 4, 2019 to hire another white person, TRACY UPCHURCH as Mayor, in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Executive Orders 12086 11246, etc.
Thank you.
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