If you’re a parent, you know that there is something to be said for the strategy of ignoring bad behavior.
There is a certain wisdom in realizing that the antics and the tantrums are, quite simply, attention-seeking — that rewarding them with a reaction will only lead to more theatrical outbursts in the future.
So, when we witnessed what unfolded during the Goldsboro City Council work session Jan. 21, our instinct was to ignore it — to resist the temptation to feed into what can at best be described as a “look at me” moment from a councilman who acts, well, like someone who is unfit to serve.
But the future of our city and county — we’ll get to that — is too important to allow this man, or any representative, to go unchecked.
And if we don’t call District 1 Councilman Antonio Williams out for his latest “performance,” there is always a chance that the community at large will normalize his ignorance and embarrassing lack of couth.
Along those lines, before we get into detail about what unfolded during the meeting, a few things need to be said.
The charges? Discrimination and “severe and pervasive” behavior that “amounted to harassment and hostile work environment” that “adversely impacted (her) job and health.”
Now, the councilman would have you believe that because he was reelected in the fall, that the public has vindicated him.
Wrong.
Mr. Williams has not been cleared by the EEOC and any argument that a few hundred votes in a city of more than 34,000 is somehow reflective of widespread support for the accused is ridiculous.
So why is this ongoing saga relevant to what unfolded Tuesday?
Because the accuser, Community Affairs Director Shycole Simpson Carter, substantiated her claim, in part, by pointing to a September 2018 incident that unfolded at a GATEWAY board meeting where Williams allegedly berated her for accurately pointing out that the city had worked tirelessly to help residents displaced by Hurricane Florence — a claim Mr. Williams disputes without nearly the paper trail she used to support her stance.
Fast forward to this week.
During the council’s work session, Mr. Williams argued that Ms. Simpson Carter should be removed from her GATEWAY assignment because she has filed a complaint against him and the city.
Sounds crazy, right? How in the world did anyone on the council not see that Williams should have zero contact with Simpson Carter, let alone use a public forum to critique her filing of an EEOC complaint?
Anyone who runs a business — or has an ounce of intelligence — knows what a no-no that is.
Clearly, the City Council missed a beat.
And in a true bonehead move, members actually voted to put the District 1 councilman back on the GATEWAY board with his accuser.
So, let’s break that down.
The City Council decided it was a good idea to put Mr. Williams back on the GATEWAY board while he is under investigation by the EEOC.
His accuser is on the board, writes grants for GATEWAY and attends the meetings.
There is no shortage of adjectives to use here. One council member has since called it “a mistake.” Mistake doesn’t even begin to do that maneuver justice. Irresponsible seems a little more appropriate.
And frankly, given Williams’ track record — you know, the comfort with which he has publicly lambasted his accuser since she came forward — the council should have foreseen what unfolded Tuesday. Here’s a taste of what Mr. Williams said about Ms. Simpson Carter:
“So, we reward bad behavior here? We have an employee who is suing the city of Goldsboro and we let her do any and everything that she can possibly do? I don’t understand. We are living in an alternate universe here when you can do harm and you’re rewarded. How dare you all.”
“Where you can do harm and you’re rewarded,” you say?
Oh, the irony.
But we digress.
So, because of the board’s appalling lack of foresight, Ms. Simpson Carter was called a liar AGAIN — with cameras rolling and her colleagues seated in the conference room.
At the very least, the council owes Ms. Simpson Carter an apology for putting her in that situation. But thanks to Mr. Williams, she’s got something else coming her way that will probably suffice.
Need a hint? It’s green, you can buy stuff with it and some of it comes from city taxpayers.
But the antics didn’t stop there.
Mr. Williams then took aim at Mayor Chuck Allen — an ill Mayor Chuck Allen — by proclaiming that he had “vacated his seat” by failing to attend council meetings while he receives treatment.
And if he had simply accepted the answer to what was a fairly reasonable question — when is the mayor coming back — everything would have been fine.
But when the answer was given — Allen expects to return to his duties by the next council meeting — Mr. Williams did what Mr. Williams does.
He spoke as though he was a legal expert. Spoiler alert: He’s not.
And he challenged those able to back up reality with actual facts with loud proclamations and unreasonable demands.
Now, let’s forget, for a moment, about the fact that legally, Mr. Williams is dead wrong about Allen having forfeited his position as mayor by missing meetings — or that several thousand more citizens voted for Allen than they did for the man who launched an offensive against him Tuesday.
What was really striking was his exchange with City Attorney Ron Lawrence.
Williams asked that Lawrence prove that Allen had not vacated his seat. Lawrence said he would be happy to do so — that he had a file back at his office that would put any question of Allen’s legitimacy as mayor to rest and offered to provide each council member with his notes and research.
Sounds reasonable, right?
The city attorney does, after all, need to be present during the council work session. That is, you know, the job.
Williams didn’t seem to think so.
He commented that Lawrence was “being dishonest” by not “going online” immediately to produce the information he wanted.
It was unnecessary. It was rude. Even patronizing. And for the city, it was the latest instance of Williams trying to wield his power as a councilman to belittle someone he said merely “serves” the board.
Talk about a power trip. From a man who, time and time again, seems to refuse to acknowledge the fact that he serves US.
And given the fact that Lawrence is correct — that Allen has not, by any stretch of the imagination, vacated his seat — it again showed the ignorance of a man who, for example, loves to talk about “transparency,” but refused a records request from this publication and defended his defiance of public records law by claiming, get this, that the 4th Amendment protected him from having to disclose public documents.
That’s right.
The 4thAmendment.
So why does all of this matter to you?
Well, for starters, city taxpayers will likely have to foot some of the bill should the city settle with Ms. Simpson Carter.
But more importantly, Mr. Williams is currently running for a seat on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners.
Ask yourselves if this is the kind of behavior you want seeping into the Wayne County Courthouse — if county officials can afford the liability their counterparts in City Hall are facing as you read this.
Do we need a man who shouts “conspiracy” every time something doesn’t go his way on the county board? How about someone who treats government employees — from the city attorney to the decorated veteran who serves as Goldsboro’s city manager — like garbage?
Is sitting out during the primary election — and risking having to endure another several months of divisive politicking — really what we need after having suffered through it last fall?
Either way, Mr. Williams’ colleagues on the council need to reject this behavior.
They need to take a stand and show this community — and the rest of the state — that Goldsboro has a bright future and that its leaders are people who can be taken seriously as we fight for grant money and recruit businesses that will help Wayne County prosper.
Newcomer Taj Polack did.
So did his predecessor Mark Stevens.
Doing so cost Stevens a great deal. (Much more on that is coming.) Polack says he has already been called an “Uncle Tom” by Williams’ supporters for rejecting the ideology of a fellow black councilman.
How disgusting is that?
It is also indicative of what is to come.
But you can make it stop — and so, too, can the Goldsboro City Council.
Speak up. Comment here. Send a message to Polack and others on the council that you support their efforts to stop this divisive nonsense and encourage them to challenge Williams’ dangerous behavior.
We are certainly not going to stop pointing it out.
And we will be watching closely to see which members of the council normalize it.
And it is not because Williams is black — although we are certain we will hear that charge. It is because he is an embarrassment.
Apathy put Williams in that seat — a few hundred votes from a district that could ill-afford to put someone so irresponsible in charge.
They deserve better — and so, frankly, do we.
The state of politics these days has made many people shy away from public office. They don’t want the grilling or the hassle that goes with that service.
But this is how we get people like Antonio Williams in positions of power.
And it is how cities fail and progress is turned on its ear.
We will be watching all of your representatives this year.
And we are going to tell it like it is — no matter how many people tell us we can’t — or shouldn’t.
That is what a responsible watchdog does.
And it is what we think you want to see.
I sincerely appreciate this type of behavior being brought to light. It is certainly not the type of representation that our community wants or deserves. We need individuals that are willing to put the community’s growth and progress in the forefront; not playing politics and pursuing their own agenda.
Keep up the good work and God bless.
Frankly, I am sick and tired of watching every single meeting and this being how it is. William’s and Foster both stamped their feet and acted like mad toddlers every time something doesn’t go their way. I felt like Foster was the main instigator and that it would get better after he left but apparently not. I want to see a city council that works together. They don’t always have to agree but they need to know how to act professionally when they don’t. One thing that definitely needs to go is the consistent use of racism. All one needs to be a racist this day amd time is to disagree with someone. That is ridiculous. I remember watching the various videos during this election and being truely embarrassed for Goldsboro . I see something very different from my.point of view. I am out in the community with all sorts of people. We smile at one another, help one another and love one another……skin color aside. Also, really bad move to put him back on Gateway. Ms. Simpson is the victim and it is the city’s responsibility to protect her. Bad move to.vote him back on. That is however the kind of thing you get when people are made to feel afraid to put their foot down on am issue because they know they will be called racist.
The largest problem facing our little town today is that people don’t vote for someone on their merit, they vote for them on the color of their skin! It is guaranteed that the voters who chose “Mr.” Williams don’t know a thing about his politics! Or care! They saw a man with the same color skin and voted for him! Read, people!! CARE for heaven’s sake!
The placement on the transit board is a whole other thing! It is like putting Trump in a roomful of the victims of his wrath! Pure hate! If this tiny town could convince it’s citizens to put aside race we might have a solution to why it is in the throes of drug abuse, gun violence and poverty! A ride thru this town is appalling! No wonder no one wants to open big business here! One little “pretty” Main Street does not a viable town make!
Nailed it
Get this Embarrassing joke out of office. I was born and raised in Goldsboro 61 years now and Absolutely Do not want Antonio Williams Representing My Hometown
Antonio Williams has been a festering cancer in the City Council ever since his first election. He has tried numerous times to use his position on the council to circumvent the laws that the rest of us must abide by. His constant childlike tantrums (mirrored by those same actions of his cohort, Bevan Foster) have lead to the Council having to spend valuable time dealing with their “issues” rather than spending that same time working to better our city. He is now questioning the legitimacy of Mayor Allen’s illness and his ability to hold his position as Mayor. He, of all people, is “demanding answers”. Ironically, when questions were raised about the legitimacy of his council seat, based on the disclosure that he no longer lived in the district he represented, he cried “foul” and refused to provide proof. His constant cry of “racism” any time his actions are called into question are ridiculous. His efforts to use the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the NAACP to back up his bad behavior reflect badly on those organizations because it makes them look as if “anything goes, as long as you’re black”. The young woman, Goldsboro City employee, Shycole Simpson-Cater, that he’s so ruthlessly attacked publicly, both verbally and with his physically threatening manner, is black as well. Why did the NAACP not come to her defense? Possibly because they got more publicity by defending the Councilman’s actions? As with his first election to the City Council, some of us still have questions as to how he got elected. Hopefully he will not win election to the County Board of Commissioners and continue with his path of mayhem and deceit in that boardroom.
This makes me so sad to read. I left Goldsboro in lat 2014 after working alongside Julie Metz at the DGDC for a few years. The people downtown at City Hall were my family while we were away from home (my husband was in the Air Force) and I hate to read that this mess is going on. So many have worked so hard to bolster a city that I myself was quick to criticize before I was in the thick of making it a better place. I am so proud of the progress Goldsboro has made and am grateful for the unparalleled example of teamwork city leaders, council members, and the community provided for me. It would be a real shame for Goldsboro to lose momentum now.
Excellent Commentary!
In 2016 my spouse opened up their business in downtown, this is when I also became involved in downtown. I am a veteran who separated from my position in the military, to do what I think, is help build this community.
These businesses’ put food on their owner’s tables, clothes on their children’s backs, tax dollars back into the community, believe me. I’ve seen it first hand. I deal with it daily.
I could write a book including all the despicable things Williams has said, not only about the downtown community, or the community and it’s leaders, but about our military members and SJAFB. I have never despised a man so much in my life, and I wish that didn’t have to come out of my mouth. I can’t imagine the cords he has struck with other’s in this community. Be mine, have been struck and ripped to shreds. I left a career with full stability to support a community I fell in love with. I have watched my spouse and fellow members of this community pour their heart’s and souls into improving not just downtown, but all of Goldsboro and we get re-paid with foul remarks and disrespectful actions. This man is getting what he wants, a response from everyone who knows he is wrong, and he thrives off of it. It’s devastating.
What if he wins this upcoming election? What do we do then? This shouldn’t be something that keeps us up at night! The stability of our community that we are working so hard to make flourish could fall in the blink of an eye with a little help from Williams. Any man OR woman that acts like a child on any form of government platform doesn’t deserve that platform, mainly their community doesn’t deserve it.
His one concern in life is himself, and he won’t stop until he thinks he’s gotten what he wants.
For the sake of our community, remove this man.
So very disheartening And frustrating that the City of Goldsboro continues to face this non-productive behavior from this specific councilman. What a shame that it continues non-stop at every meeting along within the community at-large.
Impeach him !! Sounds like the city council is afraid to rock the racial boat ! Sometimes the boat needs to be sunk ! Mr Williams sounds like a power happy lunatic who needs to be put in his place.
Despicable… especially about our Mayor who is very sick. And where is the “Me Too” movement in support of Simpson-Carter? His antics waste time and are extremely disrespectful. I am a city resident in Goldsboro and I vote! Remove him!
This is what happens when complacency meets the politics of resentment and revenge. Self anointed race pimps run amuck in their quest to divide the citizenry. These hustlers hide behind political correctness and paralyze those afraid of being labeled. They feed on weakness and push the envelope every time their tantrums go unanswered. These agitators are a disgrace to their seat , the city, and more importantly, their constituency. A high melanin level doesn’t guarantee results or proper representation. A person’s character is a better indicator of whether or not you are wasting your vote. But more importantly, it’s just as racist for a person to vote FOR a man because she’s black as it is to vote AGAINST him for the same reason.
What angers me the most is every time a conflict shows up, the race or gender card appears! Are there enough rational votes among the Council members to bring this to an end? Interesting how divisive politics can be even here in the grass. Just like in Washington, what were Council Members elected to do? Yes, enough is enough!
He needs to go. Disrespect?… he thinks he’s above being called out.
You other council members are letting him get away with such bad behavior… whats wrong with you guys.