Thursday, February 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Sick and tired of bein' sick and tired!

Activist makes a colorful comeback at library board meeting

By Andrew Kiraly

Some of the library board members feigned indifference, others pretended nonchalance, still others took a sudden interest in shuffling papers. Try as they might, they couldn't ignore Marzette Lewis.

"And you, Mr. Walters!" she hissed at library district executive director Daniel Walters. "To sit on your behind and make three hundred, four hundred thousand a year and not do anything about these problems? I bet you heard about me! I got sick and had to set down a while, but now I'm back, and I'm sick and tired of bein' sick and tired!"

Longtime black community activist Marzette Lewis' blistering address--easily overstepping the three-minute limit for public input--proved to be the centerpiece of one of the more lively Las Vegas-Clark County Library District board meetings in recent memory. Marked by protests over a five-year-old sexual harassment case and a public comment period that turned into a venting session, last Thursday's meeting at the Whitney Library was decidedly unbookish. While the official aim of the meeting was to scoot along the library bond initiative to the county's Debt Management Commission, the protest and public comment period changed the focus, drawing attention to an ugly lawsuit against the district and marking the return of Lewis, president of Westside Action Alliance Korps-Uplifting People (WAAK-UP).

Lewis had been keeping a low profile for the past year, coping with her husband's diabetes and prostate cancer. But what a comeback: Thursday's protests raised the slim specter of the library bond, which seeks $50.6 million for new libraries, plus operating costs, getting a chilly reception from voters this fall. Three women, current and former employees at the West Las Vegas Library, filed suit against the district five years ago, alleging that a volunteer employee at the library sexually harassed them. Furthermore, when the women complained, they said, they suffered retaliation.

"After we filed complaints, all of a sudden we weren't good employees anymore," said Deborah Jackson, who sued along with Emma Hobbs and Vanessa Halsell, who has since moved to California. "All of a sudden we were told we were working inefficiently, our regular evaluations started coming up saying we didn't know how to do our jobs."

The women also contend that the district has settled sexual harassment suits in the past with white women, and that the West Las Vegas Library, in hopes of discouraging the women, even hired an employee for the sole purpose of scrutinizing Jackson, Hobbs and Halsell's work habits and writing them up for minor infractions. They also say their accusations were dismissed by higher-ups because they said obese women weren't desirable, and thus probably weren't harassed.

Executive director Walters didn't want to comment on the case. "It's district policy not to comment on pending cases, but I'm not sure why certain parties who may not be aware of all the facts are gathering to protest at a board meeting, when the proper forum for resolution is the courts."

Proper unless you're Marzette Lewis. Taking the podium during the public comment period, she was back in old form as she blasted the library board for sitting on its hands. While the board did start sensitivity training after the lawsuit, Lewis and others said it wasn't enough. "They show some videos and that's it," Jackson said. "It's considered a joke. It's not nearly enough."

Or, in Lewis-speak: "We're tired of all these little crumbs offered to the women! This is crazy madness. I bet [Walters] if a black man was gettin' all in your face with all these kind of sexual comments, you'd have 19 kinds of lawsuits going. We're gonna down that bond if you don't do the right thing by these women."

Lewis and crew did get some reaction from the impassive board. Trustee Louis Overstreet called for a review of district sexual harassment policies, while Chair Ricki Barlow brought up the possibility of a separate meeting on the matter. But perhaps the biggest affirmation was the cries of "absolutely" and "that's right" that erupted from the audience.

"And tonight, it was friendly...it was friendly. This time," Lewis said.