KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A day after Kansas City’s first African American city manager is dismissed some wonder what role race played.
The city council voted 7-6 to suspend City Manager Wayne Cauthen.
Some council members are upset that Cauthen was escorted out of City Hall by security.
“It's really evident when he just happens to be African American and especially the way it was handled. The way he was terminated and escorted out of the building as if he were a criminal. I especially take issue with that,” said Councilwoman Melba Curls.
Other questions of race arose because Mayor Mark Funkhouser did not tell the council’s three African American members about plans to get rid of Cauthen.
“I mean maybe the mayor thought he was playing race himself by not including the three African Americans but there were three Caucasian members that was not told. And so no matter how you look at it or draw it up it was wrong,” says Terry Riley.
Councilman Ed Ford, who was also not told of plans to oust the city manager, doesn’t think race is the central issue.
“I think it's more of a communication issue than a racial issue. I think it's just unacceptable that our colleagues handled it the way they did,” says Ford.
None of the council members accuse Funkhouser of trying to dismiss Cauthen because of his race.
Funkhouser refutes charges that racism played a role in anything that happened.
“There are people who are going to be unhappy with me however this goes down. But it was never, ever a racial issue and I think that people will see that,” says Funkhouser.
Funkhouser believes there are other African American community leaders who support removing Cauthen.
