Members of a social justice social media group want Plum officials to form a diversity and equity committee in response to community concerns and comments from elected leaders.
Resident Amy Badali, founder of the Facebook page Black Lives Matter In Plum Boro, brought up the idea at Monday night’s council meeting.
She hopes to mimic a committee like the one where she works, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.
“We have one, and we talk about racism, gender, LGBTQ (issues),” Badali said. “We would like to help start it. We want to include everybody in the community who feels marginalized. We want them to be able to come forward and speak about what’s happening so we can institute some kind of changes without getting backlash.”
The mention of backlash was in reference to Mayor Harry Schlegel and Councilman Mike Doyle calling for the resignation of Plum School Director Amy Wetmore for her comments made on the BLM page.
The post in question was made by Wetmore on July 8, with a segment of it raising the ire of some community members.
“For those who haven’t seen it, there is a heated debate about someone implying Republicans are racist,” the post read. “I would take that statement even further. If you are white and you are living in the United States, you are racist. I say this as a white woman.”
Wetmore has since edited the post.
Doyle on Monday reiterated his comments about Wetmore’s post being racist for calling all white people racist.
Wetmore, who said she came to the council meeting as a resident and not representing the district, did not address the mayor’s comments or his own alleged anti-Muslim posts. She instead promoted the diversity committee idea and noted the district has one.
“The committee doesn’t need to focus solely on race, but that is obviously the most important issue we’re facing in our society at this moment,” Wetmore said. “We do need to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our community, and that includes any marginalized group.”
Resident and Plum BLM member Leigh-Anne Weiss was the only meeting attendee that took Schlegel to task for calling on Wetmore to resign. She also mentioned alleged anti-Muslim posts made on his personal Facebook page and a sign hung in his office when he was the borough’s tax collector.
“If you are incapable of seeing community problems, then how can you even begin to address them?” Weiss said. “I find it ironic that he would criticize Wetmore for her comments that were ultimately in the spirit of education, when his own actions have no redeeming value.”
Schlegel said he had a message on his tax collection office door years ago that read, “We are advised not to judge all Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge all gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.”
He asked how that statement was anti-Muslim or racist.
Weiss did not have a reply to the inquiry, but said she found it “interesting that you had that in front of you to read tonight.”
Weiss also questioned the mayor’s comments to other media outlets that there was no systemic racism in the borough.
“I didn’t say we didn’t have a problem with race, and I didn’t say we didn’t have any racists in Plum or anywhere,” Schlegel said. “I did not make that statement. What I disagreed with was the term systemic.”
Council President Dave Odom moved to restore order during the exchange.
“This is public comment not public debate,” he said.
Odom, the borough’s first African-American councilman and president, offered a message of unity at the end of the meeting.
“We may be white. We may be black. We may be other nationalities, colors or creed, but at the end of the day we’re neighbors,” he said. “We are neighbors in Plum Borough. We should respect one another, and we should learn to love one another. That’s what my Christian background has always taught me, and that’s what I would continue to impress upon each and every one of you because that’s how I choose to live my life.”
Schlegel said after the meeting that he does not believe a diversity committee is necessary.
“I don’t know of any racial issues in Plum,” Schlegel said. “I don’t know of any happenings with our police. Why do we need to have more meetings and get police in for training. They’ve already been in sensitivity training. We’ve had no issues. Why are these people trying to create more issues?”
Badali gave Schlegel a BLM T-shirt during the public comment portion of the council meeting. He returned it after the voting session.
“I wasn’t going to wear it, and they spent money for it,” the mayor said. “Give it to somebody that would appreciate it. I’m not the type of person who’d wear a Black Lives Matter shirt. All lives matter including unborn.”
