A Black woman who serves as deputy city clerk for Allentown, Pennsylvania, is suing the city for permitting a racially hostile workplace environment, which she says has included racial slurs and other demeaning comments by city officials directed at her and other Black employees and citizens for years. In her complaint filed in federal court last week, Tawanna Whitehead alleges that during her 15-year tenure, she has been subjected to “myriad racially hostile incidents” that violate state and federal civil rights law. They include an incident in 2015 when “a high-ranking City official allegedly used the term ‘Sand Ni—er’ multiple times” in her presence, then repeated the racial slur again in the presence of the city council president and her current supervisor Michael Hanlon, the city clerk. She claims that at her urging, Hanlon reported the incident to the city’s human resources department, but says she was “never told of any findings or remedial actions taken.” The HR director did tell her in an interview, however, “you’re not the victim.” Much of Whitehead’s complaint centers around racist comments allegedly made by white Allentown City Council member Candida Affa, whom she calls “an unashamed bigot” whose racial animus the seven-member Council is well aware of due to Whitehead’s numerous complaints and pleas for assistance. In 2019, the complaint says, Whitehead overheard Affa tell Hanlon in the city’s fifth-floor office suite that Black people “‘are always ‘begging for something’ when they come to council meetings during budget discussions.” Affa allegedly added that “individuals in the Black community ‘do not want to educate themselves or work.’” Whitehead says she expressed concerns to Hanlon about the comments, but that he didn’t respond, and took no action. When she told Affa that her comments were hurtful, “Affa apologized, saying, ‘I don’t mean to say it.’” In 2020, Affa allegedly made other racially offensive remarks in Whitehead’s presence, including, “’It doesn’t take a village,’ insinuating that Black families should be able to – but cannot – raise their own children.” Affa also said that when she owned a bar in town, “the minorities were causing all the issues,” the lawsuit says, and later asked aloud in the office, “Black Lives Matter, what does that mean?” which the complaint contends suggested “the public outrage over deaths caused to Black citizens like George Floyd was not warranted.” When members of the Black community requested that the associate degree requirement be dropped from Allentown’s police officer job qualifications, the complaint alleges that Affa remarked that “the city’s police chief himself had stated Black people could not even educate themselves.” Those comments by Affa were reported by Hanlon to HR and the city solicitor, but no action was taken against Affa, the lawsuit says. The situation apparently became intolerable for Whitehead in September 2023, when, while assisting Affa with an app on her phone, Whitehead says she inquired “if she could ask Affa a question about certain comments Affa had made at a recent Council meeting regarding racial issues.” Affa responded that “she does not care what a Black person says,” the complaint alleges, then “screamed ‘F-ck Justan [Parker]! (affiliated with the Black Lives Matter of the Lehigh Valley), ‘F-ck Barbara [Redmond]!’ (affiliated with the NAACP Allentown branch) and then added, ‘F-ck you, too!’” Whitehead reported the incident to other council members and cooperated with a subsequent investigation, the lawsuit says. Hanlon pledged to keep Affa away from Whitehead, and the city offered to ensure she would not have to be alone with Affa in the office. But Affa has come into her office multiple times when she was alone since then, she claims. Council members alerted to Affa’s conduct have taken no action against her or made any public comments about it, the lawsuit says. Nor have they “taken any steps or initiated any safeguards to protect Plaintiff from additional racial abuse and/or intimidation from Affa.” Hanlon, meanwhile, defended Affa and “told Plaintiff to talk with clergy about her concerns, not him,” Whitehead says, adding that he declined her request to “help her change the work environment.” Concerns by members of the public around racial discrimination in Allentown’s city hall also came to a head in September 2023, when a tumultuous City Council meeting featuring hours of public comment resulted in a unanimous vote by the council for an outside investigation into alleged racism, reported The Morning Call. That vote followed a public letter from the Allentown NAACP to Mayor Matt Tuerk circulated in July of 2023 claiming that more than 10 employees had faced racial discrimination in their city hall jobs, including hearing racial slurs and facing wrongful termination. The investigation, led by retired FBI agent Scott Curtis, is ongoing. The City Council voted 6-1 in June to pay his agency $300,000 to look into allegations of workplace discrimination and racism in city government. Tuerk is now trying to block the funding for it, citing contract procurement missteps. Curtis previously investigated Allentown’s former mayor Ed Pawlowski for corruption, a probe which led to his conviction on 47 charges and a 15-year prison sentence, according to Lehigh Valley News. Whitehead filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission earlier this year. In September the EEOC dismissed her claim and issued a notice of her right to file a claim in court. Her lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Nov. 29, seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory damages for the “extreme pain, suffering and humiliation caused to her by the city’s acts and omissions.” It also seeks for the city to be permanently enjoined from discriminating or retaliating against Whitehead, and to force the city to create or adhere to policies prohibiting further civil rights violations, including monitoring action by the court to ensure full compliance. Affa did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star. Last year when the City Council was debating whether to proceed with the racism investigation, Affa told members of the public that she supported the investigation, but was “tired” of accusations of racism against herself and city officials. “All I’m saying is, we’re not racist up here,” she said. During the public comment period at the Allentown City Council meeting on Wednesday, eight people rose to make comments about Affa, Whitehead and the lawsuit. Council members were prohibited from speaking about the pending litigation, said Allentown Solicitor Maria Montero. Several Black, white and Hispanic residents who identified themselves as longtime friends and neighbors of Affa described her as kind and supportive, and insisted they had never heard her make a racist comment or exhibit any racial or ethnic prejudice. An elderly Black couple recounted how Affa had helped them find new housing and prevail in a dispute with their landlord when they moved to the city in 2018 and realized they had rented a mold-infested rowhouse. Later Affa invited their family to dinners and pool parties. “Being nice has nothing to do with whether you behave in a way that is discriminatory,” cautioned Phyllis Alexander, who was formerly the director of the Allentown Human Relations Commission, which investigates and mediates racial discrimination complaints. Alexander told Council members she had read about Whitehead’s lawsuit in the newspaper that morning. “I’m clear I don’t have the whole story,” she said. “But I do know that Tawanna is meticulous, thoughtful, cautious, careful and she would not file a complaint that is frivolous. … I would encourage you to think about what are your next steps. Because this is an opportunity to model to the city what you should do when there are allegations of discrimination. You can double down, you can get defensive — or you can decide to be curious, thoughtful and really examine all of the points being made, and to figure out how the city can be its best.” ‘Sand Ni—er’: Allentown Councilwoman Allegedly Tells Black City Clerk ‘F–k You’ After Years of Racist Abuse Sparks Lawsuit