MINNEAPOLIS — The former Executive Director of Minneapolis’ Division of Race, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, has left her position after nearly a year on the job, and has threatened to file a lawsuit against at least one city councilwoman.

Tyeastia Green, who was hired in March 2022, issued the threat in a scathing 14-page memo she sent to Mayor Jacob Frey and other city officials, blasting what she called a “toxic” work environment, which reflected “antiblack sentiment” – even among its two black city councilwomen.

“I don’t believe the city as an enterprise is concerned about having an antiracist organization,” Green said in the memo, dated March 6th. “The city, as an enterprise, is concerned about optics.” 

Green’s rift with the city largely revolves around the “I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams Expo,” a Black History Month celebration and event that took place on February 25th. Green and her team managed the event, and during the initial planning said that she anticipated it could draw up 20,000 people. The event, however, ran into financial issues, with city taxpayers eventually footing the bill of nearly half-a-million dollars. 

“The reception from the mayor’s office was enthusiasm,” Green recalled to WCCO. “They were very excited to have an event during Black History Month, something the city hadn’t done before. They were excited to talk about it.”

Nonetheless, Green claimed city leadership, including in the City Coordinator’s Office, prevented her from putting on a successful event by preventing her from properly marketing the event and claiming the event would be “racist” if there performances and presentations weren’t open to those who weren’t Black.

“I said it was going to be a Black History Month event, so of course there are going to be black people on the stage. If there was a Lunar New Year event, there would be all Asian people on the stage,” Green told WCCO. “I think we wanted it to be a cultural experience, so for it to be an experience for everyone to be a part of, everyone can enjoy, this event was not just for Black people, but I wanted to uplift the Black community.”

According to Green, she tried to cancel the event multiple times, including as late as two weeks before the event, but the city refused. 

“What I did feel was that they were trying to ensure this event failed and I as a leader, in turn, would fail.”

Attendance was underwhelming, which was especially apparent in the cavernous Convention Center. 

“The central theme from August to the present was that the enterprise leadership would put up every barrier to ensure that I failed,” she wrote in her memo. “However, as a leader, I didn’t fail because, against all odds, I brought something to the residents of Minneapolis that no one else in the enterprise has – a celebration of Black contributions, Black excellence, and Black History.”

City Council President Andrea Jenkins, as well as LaTrisha Vetaw, the city councilwoman from North Minneapolis, were among the direct targets of Green’s accusations in her memo; both Jenkins and Vetaw are Black.

“I chose those words because they were appropriate to describe what was happening within the enterprise,” Green asserted. “[Jenkin’s] votes on the city council are all antiblack. She has put forth agenda items that say she’s for the Black community but never attaches funding for those items, from the Strategic Action Plan to the Reconciliation Commission to racism as a public health emergency. Council President Jenkins is performative.”

Regarding Vetaw, who Green at the end of the memo directly threatens with a lawsuit, Green wrote, “CM Vetaw has made it her mission to spread lies and defame my character with the community regarding the I Am Expo.”

“It’s shameful.” City officials, Congresswoman Vetaw reject Green’s accusations

Casper Hill, a spokesman for the City of Minneapolis, confirmed Green’s departure on March 13, but declined to comment on the circumstances, citing personnel issues.

The city, however, “disagrees” with Green’s account of what happened, Hill countered, and said “it’s disappointing” for city staff to be “publicly criticized for the hard work they do on behalf of Minneapolis and its residents.”

Councilwoman Vetaw, meanwhile, flatly rejected Green’s accusations. 

“One thing that’s very important to me is to feel like I represent the people who look like me down here,” Vetaw told WCCO. “To call me ‘antiblack’ is just disgusting to me. It hurts. It’s disrespectful. It’s shameful. It’s so many things you feel. There hasn’t been 10 Black women serving on the Minneapolis City Council. I don’t take that lightly. I know how serious that job is.”

According to Vetaw, she was thrilled with the idea of the Expo but was disappointed to learn that Green hired an event planner from out of state to run the event instead of a local Black-owned business. Nonetheless, Vetaw said she voted with the council to approve $435,000 in funding for the expo.

When asked about why a Minneapolis or Minnesota-based event planner wasn’t hired to run the expo, Green said no one applied during what she described as a two-week application process specific to Black and women-owned businesses in the city. Vetaw told WCCO she didn’t believe that.

“There are people who dream of having contracts with the City of Minneapolis, that have been born and raised here. Black folks who I see everyday, who were born and raised in the community I live in. I had to say to them I voted for someone in Atlanta to get that. This is not about me at all. It’s about the people who I love in Minneapolis who deserve better.”

Vendors lose money, left in middle of controversy

Where Vetaw and Green agree: the expo’s failure led to many Black-owned businesses losing valuable time and money they invested in their own success.

Markella Smith, owner of The Dream Shop in North Minneapolis, said she spent $2,000 on preparing for the expo.

“It’s not just my business,” Smith lamented. “A lot of people were depending on that for rent, for food, for gas in their car. People were depending for that traffic to flow through their business and funds to flow through their business.”

As for why she thinks the expo flopped, Smith declined to point fingers and instead demanded accountability.

“The blaming game, that’s neither here nor there,” she told WCCO. “It doesn’t put money in my business, food on my table. It doesn’t take care of my kids. Accountability is what is needed.”

According to city officials, the City Auditor, Ryan Patrick, told council members of his intent to conduct a formal review of the Expo in response to “external concerns” that were shared with the city.