Leon County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings received unanimous support for the county to draft a resolution to respect and recognize the dignity of all citizens from all backgrounds after an offensive social media post by President Donald Trump sparked widespread criticism.
As part of director discussion at the commission’s Feb. 10 meeting, Cummings worked with staff and fellow board members on what path to take. She said the decision was spurred by Trump’s Truth Social post, widely condemned as racist, that included an animated picture of past president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
The conversation evolved from an inquiry by Cummings, an attorney herself, who expressed concerns about the demographic makeup of the county attorney’s office. According to County Attorney Chasity O’Steen there are seven lawyers in the department, four white females and three white males, one of whom is new. The last time the office had a black attorney was LaShawn Riggans, who now is a local judge.
“We have not received any applications,” she said referring to minority candidates. “It has been a very slim candidate pool, and that’s being felt by government all over the place because it’s much more lucrative to be in private practice than it is in government practice … and people are not relocating to Tallahassee.”
O’Steen assured the board that they work to reach a large candidate pool, and Cummings thanked her and County Administrator Vince Long for the work amid Black History Month: “I appreciate the fact that the county recognizes the achievement of African-Americans and the contribution of African-Americans.”
“The county has been consistent, I mean even before I got on this board, the county has consistently recognized the contributions that African-Americans have had, and not just African-Americans, throughout the year this country recognizes other ethnic groups and I think that says a lot.”
She quickly pivoted to the “needless ridicule of our first African-American president and his wife,” and sought for a way to show residents the board stood with them. She emphasized the meaning of Obama’s election and administration as showing things were changing for folks in these United States.
“When he was elected, Mr. Chair, when that happened, many of us … felt that we had actually reached the pinnacle of what Dr. King said in his speech,” she said. “That one day (people) would be respected and recognized by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.”
Long told Cummings how the current charter review committee, who has been meeting for the past months, has echoed similar sentiments of the importance of diversity in the community and county government: “Your charter committee actually has passed along a recommendation to actually include in the preamble of our county charter language.”
Commissioner Nick Maddox and Christian Caban encouraged the idea of sending a letter to the committee endorsing the language they were proposing. Cummings and Commissioner Bill Proctor worried that the letter would appear as if the board was tampering with the review process.
Instead, they voted unanimously for the resolution, which will be written up and presented at an upcoming county meeting. The charter review committee will meet again on Feb. 19 at the LeRoy Collins Library downtown.
Arianna Otero is the trending and breaking news reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com and follow her on X: @ari_v_otero.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County to draft resolution on dignity after Trump’s Obama post
Reporting by Arianna Otero, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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