Mammy

[slacker]

Irregular News for 11.27.06

 

Miami, FL -- A complaint that its town manager used a slavery term to refer to her black assistant has prompted Golden Beach to launch an investigation.

 

Bonilyn Wilbanks-Free, 57, who is white, called Barbara Tarasenko ''a mammy'' in front of other people last month, according to a memo sent from Councilwoman Camille Colella-Battista to other council members and the town attorney.

 

In an attempt to apologize, Wilbanks-Free then told her assistant she ''loved Aunt Jemima,'' Tarasenko said.

 

'As most everyone knows, a `Mammy' (including Aunt Jemima) is a derogatory persona invented by whites to represent the black female servant,'' Colella-Battista wrote. ``The Mammy epitomizes servility with exceptionally natural cheerfulness. For many blacks, this sort of sentiment is as ridiculous and demeaning as any pickaninny.''

 

Colella-Battista brought the matter up at this week's Town Council meeting, but it was immediately shelved.

 

''Because this could open the town up to legal implications, it is best that the matter go undiscussed until we know exactly what happened,'' said Town Attorney Stephen Helfman.

 

Instead, he recommended hiring an outside firm to investigate the complaint. Although he expected to choose an investigator this week, there was no discussion how much that person would be paid or how long the investigation would take.

 

Tarasenko, 55, told The Miami Herald that she has been working in an ''intimidating environment,'' since she began with the town four months ago. When she heard Wilbanks-Free's comments, it ``felt like someone kicked me in the stomach.''

 

She went home ''crushed and humiliated,'' thinking of her grandmother who earned money for the family rearing white children.

 

At Tuesday night's town council meeting, Wilbanks-Free read a statement acknowledging recent criticism against her but said she wanted to continue running the wealthy town of about 350 homes.

 

''I do wish to commend my staff that has been there for me and for their patient and supportive attitudes at times that I am sure were not the easiest for them,'' said Wilbanks-Free, who will continue working at the town manager while the investigation takes place.

 

She declined to comment to The Miami Herald, saying she'd explain her side of the story to the outside investigator.

 

Town manager since 2003, Wilbanks-Free also has been filling in as town clerk for about nine months. Council members fired clerk town clerk Cathy Szabo in March after Wilbanks-Free complained about her.

 

Two weeks ago, council members chose a new clerk, but that person refused to take the job after Wilbanks-Free failed to remove the woman's Social Security number from a council meeting agenda.

 

Before coming to Golden Beach, Wilbanks-Free had worked as the city manager of Clewiston. She has also worked as city manager of Oakland Park, interim finance director of Pembroke Pines, Virginia Gardens police chief and in the gang unit of the Broward Sheriff's Office.

 

Her comment to Tarasenko happened last month as the assistant was inserting a videotape into a VCR, according to Colella-Battista, who said Tarasenko cried when recounting the story to her.

 

'Ms. Tarasenko, who is a black woman, told me that she tried to make light of it, but was shocked and terribly hurt being referred to as `a Mammy,' '' the councilwoman wrote in her complaint.

 

Wilbanks-Free is the second South Florida public official to face criticism for racist remarks in recent weeks.

 

Last month, Ralph Arza stepped down from the state House of Representatives following a complaint that he had used racial epithets to describe Miami Dade Schools Superintendent Rudy Crew, who is black. Arza denied using the racially insensitive words about Crew, but later called the state legislator who filed the complaint against him ''my ******'' and ''bitch'' in voice-mail messages.

 

source

[Hawkeyehusker]

I never knew that was even a word. And I certainly didn't know its defination.