BURLINGTON — Nearly 30 people spoke out in support of Tyeastia Green, the city’s former director of racial equity, inclusion and belonging, at a crowded meeting of the Burlington City Council on Monday night.
During a public comment period that lasted more than two hours, they criticized the city — and Mayor Miro Weinberger in particular — over an investigation of two Juneteenth events that Green helped organize. In a report Weinberger’s office released last week, an attorney hired to conduct the probe alleged that the events had been mismanaged.
But according to the chorus of speakers who addressed the council Monday night, the investigation unfairly targeted Green based on her race and reflected persistent bias in city and state politics.
“The attack on Tyeastia’s character is a witch hunt,” said one speaker, Jacqueline Posley, using a term that others repeated throughout the night.
Kiah Morris, a former state representative who faced racial harassment in Bennington, said that “deeply entrenched” structural racism in Vermont resulted in the “abuse of political power or the lack of political courage by leaders.”
Morris said that Burlington’s Juneteenth events in 2021 and 2022 were “some of the most triumphant days I’ve had since calling Vermont my home.” She also pressed Weinberger, saying that Green deserved “not an apology — a reckoning and an accounting” for the harm the investigation had caused.
Green’s supporters rallied in City Hall Park prior to the meeting. They then filled the seats of Contois Auditorium and lined its rear wall, holding signs expressing support for Green and cheering on speakers during public comment. Green was present for the meeting but did not address the council.
When city councilors eventually addressed the investigation late Monday night, they unanimously approved sending it to the council’s human resources committee “to consider the full impact of this report on the city, Tyeastia Green, Casey Ellerby and their families.” Ellerby, who also worked in Burlington’s REIB office, took over the planning of the 2022 Juneteenth events following Green’s departure in March of that year.
The motion, made by Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, called for the human resources committee to oversee hiring practices at the city in order “to combat anti-BIPOC and gender based discriminatory practices.”
Hightower had initially sought to go further in criticizing Weinberger. An earlier version of her motion would have asked the committee to “consider a full public articulation of harm from Mayor Miro Weinberger and the City of Burlington” to Green, Ellerby and their families for “continued defamation of character and unwarranted actions taken through the city process.”
But Assistant City Attorney Jared Pellerin, who had only been confirmed by the council for that role earlier in the meeting, objected to the wording based on “concerns over the legality” and met with Hightower for five minutes to work on a new version of her motion.
Hightower spoke passionately about how the city had treated Green and the Juneteenth events. She called the report “incredibly muddy and unclear.” Those who read the full report, she said, would “find no wrongdoing.” She criticized members of the media for seizing on such words as “mismanagement” in headlines.
Near the end of her remarks, Hightower apologized for taking up time and being “out of line.”
That prompted Councilor Melo Grant, P-Central District, to say, “This is not the night to silence the voice of black women, so you’re not out of line.”
Weinberger’s administration initiated the investigation in March following media reports in Minneapolis that Green had faced criticism for events she had organized while serving in a similar REIB role in that city. The Minneapolis City Council initiated its own review of an expo planned in part by Green.
Burlington’s investigation was conducted by Heather Ross of the law firm Sheehey, Furlong and Behm. It concluded that no theft or fraud had been committed in the planning of the two Juneteenth events but that “mismanagement or carelessness” took place prior to the 2022 event.
The investigation cost the city $41,000, chief administrative officer Katherine Schad said at Monday’s meeting.
Many of those who addressed the council that night spoke glowingly of Green and the Juneteenth events she helped organize.
“She, in my mind, was someone of unquestioned integrity,” said Max Tracy, a former council president and mayoral candidate. He said Green had “started one of the biggest and most successful events the city has ever seen.”
Tracy also criticized the report, saying it had treated Green differently than other city department heads.
“And that is racism,” Tracy said to loud cheers and applause.
Three council Progressives — Hightower, Grant and Councilor Joe Magee, P-Ward 3 — issued a seven-page critique of the Juneteenth review, calling it “poorly written” and saying that “it failed to clearly lay out the facts or findings, causing confusion on what the actual findings were.”
Hightower read from that statement Monday night. Among the trio’s objections to the report was the reasoning for initiating the review, which they said “was based on an accusation of something happening somewhere else, an accusation that was never substantiated.”
At times the meeting became emotional, bringing some to tears while inciting anger in others. Todd Lacroix brought the meeting to a halt when he spoke of experiencing supremacy from both white and Black people. That led several in the crowd to stand up and pull the microphone away from him. He continued to shout as he left the room.
The episode prompted one Green supporter, Ferene Paris Meyer, to rise and confront Weinberger for two minutes, accusing him of “silencing” black women. Council President Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, responded by calling a recess.
Later, Tabitha Moore, a former president of the Rutland Area NAACP, acknowledged the pitched atmosphere.
“Can we just start with a deep breath?” she said.
Moore said she expected NAACP presidents in Vermont to follow up with the city in support of Green.
Those who spoke in defense of Green were mixed in with others who had turned out to support a union of support staff at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The council unanimously passed a resolution in support of the union on Monday.
“What a beautiful, horrible moment,” Moore said. “That we have people fighting for fair wages and we have people fighting for fair processes.”
Corrected: An earlier version of this story misspelled Councilor Zoraya Hightower’s name.
