{"id":862496,"date":"2021-10-09T13:14:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T17:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=862496"},"modified":"2021-10-09T13:14:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-09T17:14:08","slug":"city-mural-depicts-black-firefighter-as-white-now-shes-suing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/city-mural-depicts-black-firefighter-as-white-now-shes-suing\/","title":{"rendered":"City Mural Depicts Black Firefighter As White. Now She\u2019s\u2019 Suing."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcity-mural-depicts-black-firefighter-as-white-now-shes-suing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=862496&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-612960390.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A city\u2019s supposed attempt to make faces on a mural not \u201cspecifically identifiable\u201d ended up depicting a black firefighter as white, and now she\u2019s suing for defamation and negligence.<\/p>\n<p>As The Daily Beast reported, Latosha Clemons became Boynton Beach, Florida\u2019s first black female firefighter in 1996. She rose through the ranks, becoming the city\u2019s first black deputy chief 20 years later.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the city\u2019s public arts commission decided to paint a mural in part based on a photo of Clemons and two white female firefighters. When the mural was revealed on June 3, 2020, however, all three firefighters appeared white. Not only that, but Clemons\u2019 face was so distorted she barely looked human compared to the other portraits. The mural also depicted former Boynton Fire Chief Glenn Joseph as white, when he is also black.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFaced with local outrage, city officials removed the mural the next day. In the aftermath, [Boynton Beach City Manager Lor] LaVerriere fired Debby Coles-Dobay, Boynton Beach\u2019s public arts manager. In a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boyntonbeachcity\/photos\/a.527121717305362\/4475283005822527\/?type=3&amp;theater\">statement posted to Facebook<\/a>, LaVerriere said she and Fire Chief Matthew Petty \u2018agreed that it is in the best interest of the City of Boynton Beach that we mutually separate employment.\u2019 It is not clear exactly what role Petty played in the mural\u2019s development,\u201d the Beast reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth parties agree that this decision will allow the City of Boynton Beach to move forward,\u201d the Facebook post said.<\/p>\n<p>The statement from LaVerriere also addressed the mural, who said the decision was made after concluding \u201ca preliminary investigation regarding the inappropriate decisions made by City employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision made to alter the artwork that was approved by the Public Arts Commission was wrong and disrespectful to our community. Every employee in the City of Boynton Beach works for its community. As a leader, I have been very clear that I will not tolerate any employee to be disrespectful, in any shape or form, to any members of our community,\u201d LaVerriere wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boynton-beach.org\/news\/message-city-manager\">press release<\/a> at the time, LaVerriere said that changes \u201cwere made to the approved artwork that were inappropriate\u2026 I sincerely apologize this occurred and will take every measure necessary to ensure this never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jacksonville.com\/story\/news\/2020\/06\/08\/florida-public-art-mural-replaced-image-of-pioneering-black-female-firefighter-with-white-face\/41747933\/\">explained<\/a> that the mural was supposed to be painted in a way that to ensure \u201cthe individuals would not be specifically identifiable,\u201d but that the end result \u201cwent way too far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease understand that this unfortunate incident is not indicative of our values,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Clemons is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/530988613\/Clemons-complaint\">now suing<\/a> the city over the mural, claiming defamation and negligence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing depicted as white was not only a false presentation of Clemons, it was also a depiction which completely disrespected all that Clemons, the first female Black firefighter for the City, had accomplished, her determination, focus and hard work,\u201d her lawsuit says. She also accuses the city of depicting her as white because that\u2019s \u201ca race the city presumably felt better fit the image it was trying to project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clemons approved the original photograph to be used as a basis for her inclusion in the mural, and writes in her lawsuit that Boynton \u201chad a duty to ensure that the mural accurately depicted the picture Clemons had approved for use, that it depicted Clemons for who she is and for which she takes pride; a Black female.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A city\u2019s supposed attempt to make faces on a mural not \u201cspecifically identifiable\u201d ended up depicting a black firefighter as white, and now she\u2019s suing for defamation and negligence.As The &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}