A former head of racial equity at the Minneapolis city council who asked to cover the costs of a three-day “leadership conference” involving yoga and ran up a $500,000 bill for a Black Expo event has accused her former colleagues of racism.
Tyeastia Green alleges a “toxic work culture environment” and claims she was forced to work in an office where she could hear inmates from the nearby jail crying through the walls.
He also accused several senior black officials, including Chairman Andrea Jenkins and member LaTrisha Vetaw, of being ‘anti-black’.
However, Jenkins responded by stating that she is “not anti-black, I’m anti-incompetent.”
Green took on the role of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the city where George Floyd was killed in March 2022. He left the job this month.
Tyeastia Green alleges a “toxic work culture environment” at City Hall, claiming she was forced to work in an office where she could hear nearby inmates crying through the walls.
In a 14-page memo, Green accused black seniors on the council, including council member LaTrisha Vetaw, left, and council president Andrea Jenkins, right.
In a scathing memo sent to city officials, Green complained that she was put in a “mice-infested space” on her first day that shared a wall with inmates.
Some cells belonging to the Hennepin County Jail are located inside City Hall.
She also complained that the city’s interim operations officer, Heather Johnston, denied her funding to attend a leadership conference.
“Who decides what is and what is not a leadership conference,” he wrote in the 14-page memo.
Green does not name the event, but city records seen by the star tribune prove it was for See Change Sessionyes, a three-day event in Burlington, Vermont. Green is reported to have lived in Vermont before taking over in Minneapolis.
See Change’s agenda lists activities such as snow kitesurfing and yoga and a series of talks including two titled ‘letting go of climate guilt’ and ‘demystifying climate justice’.
Although other events on the agenda are relevant to equity and racial inclusion.
Green sought $2,433.21 for event registration, airfare and a travel agent fee, the City claims, which denied the request.
The memo also included a flowchart that explained the issues women of color face in the workplace.
But much of the tension between Green and her colleagues stemmed from the inaugural Minneapolis “I am Ancestors Wildest Dreams” business expo, which she was tasked with organizing.
The full scale of the budget is not known, but the City Council told the star tribune allocated $435,000 to the event on February 17.
Green, pictured on her Facebook page, complained that she was put in a “mice infested space” on her first day sharing a wall with inmates.
Green, pictured left, sought $2,433.21 for a “leadership conference” in Vermont that involved yoga and kitesurfing in the snow.
He added that the “full amount budgeted out of the action taken on February 17 is still being evaluated by the city.”
It is reported that a week before the event, the council held an emergency meeting to cover a funding shortfall, at which point Green claimed that the racial equality charity, the Bush Foundation, had offered $3 million to sponsor her.
This claim was disputed by city officials. In emails posted by her Twitter allies, Green says she was offered the $3 million figure, but the foundation stipulated that the mayor and city council could not participate in the event, conditions she could not accept.
“I didn’t want to say all that in the full council because it’s a shame for the council and the mayor.”
In her scathing 14-page memo, Green included a flowchart of the issues women of color face at work.
In general, the exhibition on February 25 was considered a failure by local businesses, who called it a ‘complete disappointment’.
One told KSTP that she was promised 20,000 people would attend, but only a few hundred actually showed up.
Green served his last day in office on March 12.
She claims that she resigned on February 21, but was encouraged to reconsider her resignation.
On March 13, she was informed that she had been ‘not designated’.
She adds that she was given the opportunity to resign or not be named, and concludes that she retains her February 21 resignation.
He has since criticized the City Council in the memo that begins with a quote from Zora Neale Hurston that reads, “If you keep quiet about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”
She goes on to accuse Chairman Jenkins of ‘spreading rumors about the lack of work coming from Race & Equity’.
She adds: ‘Six months after starting the job, the expectation from the chairman of the board was that he should have resolved racism in the company.’
She goes on to accuse Jenkins and La’Trisha Vetaw, both of whom are black, of creating “an unsafe and unhealthy work environment for blacks.”
She claims that Vetaw ‘sneered’ and ‘glared at me’ during a council hearing.
Some of the sentiments mirror those of her predecessor on the role, Joy Marsh, who penned a public letter alleging that non-white workers on the council were “subject to” gaslighting, marginalization, and tokenism.
In his response, Vetaw focused on his disappointment with the Expo event and did not engage with the criticisms outlined by Green.
“While I had numerous concerns about the Expo, I did my part to make the event a success,” he said in a statement to the Star Tribune.
Green claims council president Andrea Jenkins, pictured, spread rumors about her lack of work
La’Trisha Vetaw is accused of taunting Green during a council meeting. She said that she was anxious to see the results of the exposure audit.
‘At the end of the day, I don’t think this event has been successful for a variety of reasons.
“Mostly, we defraud our small black-owned businesses. I look forward to seeing the results of the audit. … I will work to ensure that the lessons learned from the audit are put into practice and that we work to rebuild trust.”
Meanwhile, Jenkins told the outlet, “I’m not anti-black, but I am anti-incompetent.”
Prior to her role in Minneapolis, Green was the city of Burlington’s first director of racial equity, inclusion and belonging.
He resigned after two years in office, reportedly due to tensions with Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Green has never publicly commented on the departure, but her friend, Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale, told local news site Seven Days: “There were conversations that made her feel really unpleasant and made it clear that the systemic change she was trying to bring was not welcome.”
She added: “Frankly, I don’t know how he stayed that long.”
WhatsNew2Day.com contacted Green and the City Council for comment.
