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<\/a><\/p>\nSmith, who is white, worked under Howard Lacy. Earlier in the trial, Smith testified that Lacy described Wilson to him as a \u201clazy piece of s\u2014\u201c and and an \u201centitled n\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacy, during his testimony on Wednesday, denied making such comments. A third-party investigation into the matter ordered by the city was inconclusive.<\/p>\n
Learning She Was Called the \u2018N-word\u2019<\/p>\n
After Smith quit for what he called retaliation, he told Wilson what Lacy said about her.<\/p>\n
Wilson worked for the city\u2019s code enforcement department. She long suspected several slights in her career were racially motivated. Hearing what Lacy allegedly said out of her presence confirmed it for her.<\/p>\n
Wilson said she felt humiliated several times.<\/p>\n
During testimony, Wilson listed several slights. After returning from a three-year layoff for economic reasons in 2016, she was assigned an inferior truck, an inferior tool bag, and was reprimanded for improperly parking at City Hall.<\/p>\n
Wilson also described having to fight the city for a promotion. She went to the Civil Service Board to prove she met qualifications.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t make any mistakes. I couldn\u2019t do anything wrong. Policies applied to me differently,\u201d Wilson testified.<\/p>\n
Several times during her testimony, Wilson talked about the burden she faced as a Black woman working for the city. She would always be noticed and stood out, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want anyone who looks like me to go through this,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
How Wilson Reacted<\/p>\n
When she learned what Lacy allegedly said about her on the afternoon of July 11, 2018, Wilson testified she was overwhelmed with emotion. She called it an \u201cout of body experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
While being consoled by a co-worker, Wilson said, \u201cThey are all f\u2014 liars. All of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city reprimanded her for the outburst, Wilson testified, for conduct unbecoming of an employee. She did not recall an employee disciplined for profanity before. During her testimony, Wilson clung to her belief that almost everyone at the city lied about her.<\/p>\n
Later that day, Wilson said she spoke with Jennifer Clark, head of the planning department, which oversaw code enforcement at the time. She said Clark had a look of shock.<\/p>\n
After Wilson filed her complaint over Lacy\u2019s alleged slur, she was placed on paid leave for what she was told was for the integrity of the third-party investigation. However, she was told she could be called back to return to work within an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201dI felt like I was on house arrest,\u201d Wilson testified.<\/p>\n
She told the court she experienced sleeping problems and intimacy issues with her husband. It put a strain on her marriage.<\/p>\n
After 11 months off, Wilson returned to work in July 2019. Lacy was at work as well. They literally bumped into each other, according to Wilson\u2019s testimony. She informed supervisors.<\/p>\n
After she returned, she received a poor work evaluation for 2018, much worse than a 2017 evaluation. She also learned that Lacy made a complaint about her. Wilson said that she was never notified.<\/p>\n
She said that made her sick to her stomach, literally. She felt like a scapegoat.<\/p>\n
\u201dAs a Black person, it says f\u2014 you, n\u2014,\u201d Wilson said on the stand.<\/p>\n
Plaintiffs\u2019 attorney Kevin Schwin closed, asking Wilson if she forgives the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a child of God and a Christian woman, yes. As a human of flesh, never,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Negative Meetings with Superiors<\/p>\n
During cross examination from Mandy Jeffcoach representing the city, she asked about meetings Wilson had with members of the City Attorney\u2019s Office, which now is in charge of code\u00a0 enforcement. Wilson was accused of using profane language and finger pointing during testy meetings.<\/p>\n
That eventually led to a three-day suspension. Wilson challenged the decision to the city Civil Service Board, which made the unusual move of recommending her termination. The board found that Wilson \u201cengaged in abusive and aggressive conduct\u201d and was \u201cdiscourteous and unprofessional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson challenged the ruling in state court. The court agreed with the facts in the case, but ruled the board overstepped its authority. The discipline was reduced to 30 days.<\/p>\n
She returned to work in February 2022 after the appeals and pandemic-related time off. She was eventually terminated in June 2022. The reason for the termination was not brought up during testimony.<\/p>\n
The case resumes Tuesday. Jeffcoach\u2019s cross examination of Wilson will continue. Dallas Selling, an attorney who investigated the slur, is also scheduled to testify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fighting back tears, La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson told a jury her reaction when she learned a supervisor with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[93,112,114,113],"class_list":["post-197406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-featured","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}