Kenosha Co. exec orders disbanding racial, equity commission

A commission charged with examining racial and ethnic equity issues could soon become defunct as Kenosha County’s top elected official has also called for the County Board to take steps to disband it.

County Executive Samantha Kerkman rescinded all non-elected appointees — currently six members on the embattled Racial and Ethnic Equity Commission — “effective immediately” on Wednesday night.

The commission has consisted of eight members including six appointees Justin Crosby, Elizabeth Garcia, Cortney Marshall, Duane O’Keefe, A. Brian Gonzales and Chair Xavier Solis. The commission also has two elected County Board liaisons, supervisors Andy Berg and Brian Thomas.

Kerkman’s action comes following months of turmoil, as residents have questioned whether the commission was fulfilling the purposes it was intended to serve.

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In recent weeks, residents have sought Solis’ resignation after his reported use of a derogatory term in addressing a Black man who was addressing the commission meeting last month. Others have also questioned the commission’s agenda, which has included an attempt to rename a gender and equity award, which had been

named after the county’s first female chief of staff, seeking support for expanding the state’s school voucher program to Kenosha County and support for anti-abortion causes, among others.

“The current state of the Racial and Ethnic Equity Commission does not align with or fulfill the mission set out by the County Board. The recent events have further demonstrated how the commission’s actions have deep impact in our community,” Kerkman said in a prepared statement. “Therefore, I am rescinding all of the County Executive appointees to the commission effective immediately, and I encourage the County Board to take the steps needed to disband the commission.”

“I know there is important work to be done. I believe there are other means by which we can work to effectively address the intended objectives of the commission, including the good work being done by Kenosha County Public Health through its Thrive initiative,” Kerkman said.

Last week, public comments regarding the commission and Solis came to a head over two nights at the County Board’s organizational and budget adoption meetings.

Troy Landry told the board he was the one who had been on the receiving end of Solis’ comment at the Oct. 19 meeting of the commission.

“The commission chair asked me if I signed the signup sheet. I replied, `Yes, I did. Thank you, Mr. Chair, sir,'” said Landry, who is biracial. “To this, the commission chair replied, `Don’t come here with your sarcasm, boy.”

“To be called boy is disheartening for me, but I’ve also been called much worse right here in Kenosha County,” Landry said. “What is more disheartening for me is being called boy, a term commonly used to denigrate men of African American descent, by the chair of the Racial and Ethnic Equity Commission.”

Landry said he and Solis are neither friends nor associates, adding that his referring to him as “boy” could only be taken in one context.

“That is disregard and denigration,” said Landry, who was among several who called for Solis’ removal.

Supervisor Terry Rose last week recommended the issue be brought before the County Board’s Executive Committee or Human Services Committee “so that it is not left hanging out there in dispute.”

“I talked to Mr. Solis. He denies making the statement,” said Rose. “I’ve listened to the recording and the recording seems to support the statement that has been attributed to him.”

Rose said if Solis made the statement, he certainly should step down or be removed by the “appointing authority.” Kerkman appointed Solis, along with Gonzales, Marshall, O’Keefe and Alaynna Arrington, who resigned earlier this summer.

Following the meeting, Solis again denied he called Landry “boy.”

“That’s not true and that’s not correct,” said Solis, who was reached following the board’s meeting. He also alluded to the video saying that it did not “hear me call anyone boy.”

“I have a thick, Hispanic southern accent,” he said. Solis accused Berg, who is on the commission, along with Forward Kenosha and the Democratic Party of attempting to remove him as commission chair.

“Because they know we’re making progress and doing a good job, so they don’t like it,” he said.

The Kenosha News has reached out to Solis for additional comment regarding the rescinding of his and other REEC appointments by the county executive.

Kelsey Hubeler, the county’s equity, diversity and inclusion coordinator and staff to the commission, said the work of racial equity would continue.

“This isn’t the end of the county’s racial equity work. This is an acknowledgment that what the REEC was doing wasn’t working, and that we should pursue other strategies going forward,” Hubeler said. “I look forward to assisting in any way I can.”

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