{"id":202958,"date":"2026-03-03T23:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/202958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T23:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:45:08","slug":"fresno-attorney-presses-wilson-on-her-racial-discrimination-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/202958\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Attorney Presses Wilson on Her Racial Discrimination Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorneys for La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson, who is suing the city of Fresno for racial discrimination, attempted to downplay a confrontational meeting with supervisors during testimony Tuesday in federal court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pissed. Do you understand? You wouldn\u2019t. Being a Black woman \u2026 knowing what I knew \u2026 all of those things, I didn\u2019t think of any rules at the time.\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson, who is suing the city of Fresno for racial discrimination\n<\/p>\n

However, the city\u2019s defense team introduced other reasons that La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson may have had emotional distress or did not receive a promotion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilson, who is Black and a former employee in the code enforcement department, is accusing a city employee of using a racial slur against her, as well as harassment and retaliation.<\/p>\n

Charles Smith, another former code enforcement employee who is white, is a co-plaintiff. Earlier in the trial, he testified he heard a supervisor use the \u201cN-word\u201d to describe Wilson and that the city retaliated when he objected.<\/p>\n

At times, Wilson became emotional while recalling how she said the city treated her.<\/p>\n

Howard Lacy, a code enforcement supervisor, allegedly made the slur to Smith. In turn, Smith reported what he heard to Wilson. Smith said he was assigned to a less desirable unit in code enforcement and quit. Wilson reacted to the news of the slur with public outbursts<\/a>, which landed her in trouble.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson (right) consults with her attorney Gary Goyette during a break in testimony, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Wilson is suing the city of Fresno for racial discrimination. (GV Wire\/David Taub)
\nCity\u2019s Cross Examination of Wilson<\/p>\n

In a line of questioning, Mandy Jeffcoach, lead attorney for the city, asked how Wilson reacted when Smith informed her that Lacy called her the \u201cN-word.\u201d Wilson had earlier testified she said \u201cthey are all f\u2014 liars. All of them,\u201d in a public hallway at City Hall.<\/p>\n

Jeffcoach asked whether accompanying hand gestures were directed at Phil Skei, a housing supervisor. Wilson said they were not specifically directed toward anyone. Jeffcoach asked whether Wilson understood those actions could violate city policy regarding common courtesy and professional attitude, and that personal conflict must be addressed through management.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pissed. Do you understand? You wouldn\u2019t. Being a Black woman \u2026 knowing what I knew \u2026 all of those things, I didn\u2019t think of any rules at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Wilson said she didn\u2019t think that her conduct violated city policy. Now, she said she has second thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day, it infuriates me,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

From the stand, Wilson called Skei a liar, which she said hurt her because Skei is a pastor. She also knew his family personally, as she planned his wedding.<\/p>\n

Jeffcoach also asked questions about a promotion Wilson did not receive. The defense introduced evidence showing Wilson ranked seventh on an applicant list for a housing supervisor position. During re-direct, Wilson testified that an applicant does not have to be at the top of the list to be promoted.<\/p>\n

Wilson also testified that someone zip-tied her personal earbuds, making them look like a noose. However, Jeffcoach introduced an email Wilson sent to her supervisor about the incident. In the email she described the incident as \u201cweird\u201d and \u201ccreepy,\u201d but made no mention of a noose.<\/p>\n

The city terminated Wilson in September 2022, three years after she filed the current case. The reason why was not mentioned during testimony. Months before, Wilson\u2019s mother died, and she started caring for an autistic nephew. Jeffcoach asked about stresses regarding raising a special needs child. Wilson said her background helped her get through it.<\/p>\n

Jeffcoach asked why Wilson did not confront Lacy about the alleged slur.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not talk to Mr. Lacy. I do not engage with Mr. Lacy. Mr. Lacy has an obsession with me. He was invisible to me,\u201d Wilson testified.<\/p>\n

She said the city \u201cwas on her neck,\u201d and she did not want to give officials any more reason to scrutinize her.<\/p>\n

Jeffcoach also introduced deposition testimony in which Wilson said she did not recall racial remarks in her presence after 2016. (Wilson was laid off from 2013 to 2016 because of the city\u2019s budget squeeze.)<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s Attorney Challenges Investigator\u2019s Crdentials<\/p>\n

Dallas Selling, the third-party investigator hired by the city in 2018, also testified Tuesday. The city paid her $300 an hour to examine Wilson\u2019s complaint, she said.<\/p>\n

Attorney Gary Goyette challenged her credentials noting that her practice was based in family law. Selling said her mission was to discover if there had been any discrimination or a hostile work environment. She was not specifically tasked with determining whether Lacy used a slur, but that was part of the investigation, Selling said.<\/p>\n

Goyette asked whether she signed a document stating she performed expert legal services in labor and employment law. Selling said that is what she was willing to do, not necessarily what her prior experience was.<\/p>\n

The scope of Selling\u2019s investigation also came into question. Goyette introduced an email into evidence from January 2019 from the city\u2019s personnel director Jeff Cardell to Selling. In the email, Cardell asked Selling to \u201cbifurcate\u201d the investigation to also look into Wilson\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

Goyette asked why, if Selling was investigating Wilson\u2019s complaint, she would also look into Wilson\u2019s behavior. She answered that questions asked of witnesses were to determine Wilson\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n

The trial, now in its fifth day, is expected to continue through Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorneys for La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson, who is suing the city of Fresno for racial discrimination, attempted to downplay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-202958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202958","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=202958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}