Fast Staged in Carson to Protest Racial Bias

Marvin Clayton sat on a lawn chair in front of Carson City Hall Thursday, a cooler of cranberry juice at his side, willing to tell all who passed by about his claims that some city employees are victims of racial discrimination.

Dressed casually in a T-shirt, loose pants and running shoes, Clayton, 47, chapter head of the NAACP, said he is staging a hunger strike to make his case. He stopped eating midnight Monday.

The hunger strike is the latest in a long list of attempts by Clayton to make an issue of what he says is racial discrimination in Carson city government.

Inside City Hall, Mayor Michael Mitoma wasn’t buying.

Nattily dressed in a gray suit with his trademark red silk tie, Mitoma asserted that the real goal of Clayton’s latest move is to build a political base so he can run for City Council next spring.

“That’s totally untrue,” Clayton said at first.

Asserting that he is not a candidate “at this time,” Clayton nevertheless did not deny a sustained interest in a council seat.

“I have said, and I have always said, that, if I get community and financial support, I would consider running,” he said.

And he agreed that it would be smart politics to seek supporters by publicizing complaints of racial discrimination by city officials.

“It would make sense, but it is the furthest thing from my mind,” he said.

“But,” he added, a few seconds later, “I do feel I could do a better job” than the incumbents.

Retorted Mitoma: “I rest my case. I will retract my statement (about Clayton’s political ambition) if he will say he is not going to run for council.”

More Visibility

Clayton, long active in Carson politics, recently achieved more visibility when he became president of the Torrance-Carson chapter of the NAACP and promised a more confrontational style than his predecessor.

Last winter, in a widely reported event, he and supporters protested at the Carson Mall after a mall official--since dismissed--replaced a black Santa Claus with a white one, and reportedly said that there would be no black Santa Claus.

On Sept. 5, Clayton led 30 black demonstrators on a two-mile march to City Hall to protest what he said was a lack of black representation in high-level city posts. He appeared before the City Council on Sept. 19 to repeat his claim. With Clayton’s approval, the council referred the complaint to the city’s Human Relations Commission.

The event that triggered Clayton’s hunger strike occurred Friday, when Director of Revenue Ferrell Sneed, one of three employees making public complaints of racial discrimination, was suspended. Sneed, an 18-year veteran of City Hall, was escorted from City Hall and told that a termination hearing will be held on charges of insubordination. Sneed could not be reached for comment.

Called Retaliation

Clayton said he believes that the suspension and termination proceedings are retaliation for Sneed’s complaint of racial discrimination and are intended to intimidate others who might make complaints. He said several other employees, who insist on anonymity, have told him that they are victims of racial discrimination.

Clayton said he will not eat until city officials issue a statement guaranteeing that employees who complain about racial harassment or discrimination will be protected from retaliation.

Local 809 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 327 Carson city employees, has issued a statement backing Clayton’s hunger strike.

Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt said that details of the case against Sneed are confidential, but added that the council acted unanimously in executive session on his case. Carson City Administrator Jack Smith also said he is not able to comment on details of Sneed’s suspension but said there is a large backlog of unprocessed business licenses. Handling business licenses, which provide more than $1 million a year for the city, is the responsibility of the revenue director.

Smith said that Sneed’s suspension is unrelated to his complaint that he is the victim of racial discrimination. Sneed was previously suspended in the spring and had his pay reduced.

“I would certainly hope that none of our employees would think that this is retaliation. It certainly is not,” Smith said.

“I would be disappointed if any of our employees who feel they have been discriminated against would be scared into not discussing the problem with the (Human Relations) Commission.”

His Own Problems

Clayton has had his own problems with city officials.

In 1984, the Carson Players, a drama group he headed, failed to win renewal of a contract with the city. They had been paid $48,952 to stage plays.

“I was racially discriminated (against) by the city a long time ago,” Clayton said. “For the whole year of 1984, I was harassed by the city.”

The council voted not to renew his contract after Clayton failed to stage all scheduled productions. City officials also questioned how Clayton had handled box office receipts.

Clayton said he filed a discrimination complaint with the NAACP about losing the Carson Players contract that is “still on the books. . . . They didn’t give me my last month’s salary.”

Joe Wolfson, community services manager who has administered the city’s fine arts contracts for 15 years, denied Thursday that Clayton lost the contract because of racism. “That is totally inaccurate. That is just not an issue here. We have the most ethnically balanced fine arts program in the country,” he said.

During the last two years, Clayton has appeared several times before the council to complain that blacks were not being hired and promoted.