Inglewood activist responds to SBBJ article
[This letter was emailed to the editor in response to a published article of a press conference denouncing claims of Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, Jr. inappropriate contact with a female student at an event on Inglewood City Hall South Lawn. South Bay Black Journal independent reporting has not received a statement from the alleged female family and we fully stand by our reporting. Inglewood District 1 Candidate Yolanda Davidson is offering her response the our report and the aforementioned letter does not reflect the views or opinions of South Bay Black Journal.]
I want to respond to the way my press conference and my intentions were characterized in your article.
Before the press conference, I sent an email to candidates and elected officials in Inglewood asking everyone to put politics aside and stand together on the issue of student safety and accountability. I made it clear in that email that I had not independently verified the allegations and that I was identifying them as allegations. I also called for an independent investigation so the facts could be established.
That email was sent before the press conference and it speaks for itself.
I also want to make something very clear. I am not running against Mayor James T. Butts. I am running for Inglewood City Council, District 1. I am not a candidate for mayor and I am not Mayor Butts’s opponent in this election.
At the press conference, I did not talk about my campaign or ask anyone to support me for office. I spoke as the founder of Press for Justice, which is the role in which I have advocated for victims, families and accountability in Inglewood for years.
I also made myself available to the press and answered questions. By contrast, according to the Los Angeles Times, Mayor Butts delivered his statement at his press conference and then went back inside City Hall without taking questions from reporters or residents.
There were journalists at my press conference who were fully aware that I am a candidate for Inglewood City Council, yet my candidacy was not the focus of their questions or my remarks. I believe that is important because the purpose of that press conference was accountability and the allegations that had been raised, not my campaign.
Mayor Butts is the person who brought politics into this conversation by characterizing my actions as politically motivated. That was not how I presented myself or the purpose of the press conference.
I did not hold that press conference for political reasons. I have been advocating for people in Inglewood long before I became a candidate for City Council. I have stood with victims, families and residents when there was nothing politically beneficial for me to gain.
I also think it is important to acknowledge the reporting that has come out since the press conference. Los Angeles Times reporter Clara Harter reported that three people who attended Votechella told the Times they saw the student appearing uncomfortable as Mayor Butts pulled her close during the group photo. She also reported that a representative for the family said they had been advised by legal counsel not to discuss the incident and to allow an investigation to run its course.
That does not prove the allegation, and I have never claimed that it does. It does show why asking for an independent investigation was reasonable and why this matter should not simply be dismissed because the mayor denies it.
My call for Mayor Butts to resign was also not based on one allegation alone. This is not the first time allegations involving inappropriate conduct toward a woman have been made against him. In 2019, his former longtime aide Melanie McDade-Dickens accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation after the end of a romantic relationship. Mayor Butts denied those allegations, and the claims against him and the city were later dismissed.
For me, this latest controversy came on top of years of allegations, lawsuits, controversial decisions and what I believe have been bad deals and poor leadership decisions involving major development and stadium projects in Inglewood. Residents have raised serious concerns for years about traffic, displacement, public spending, transparency, affordability and whether some of these deals have truly benefited the people who live here.
My position is that the mayor has become a distraction at a time when Inglewood has too much important business that needs attention.
We have issues involving traffic, affordability, public safety, development, small businesses, our schools and the overall quality of life of Inglewood residents. We cannot continue spending our time watching controversy involving City Hall play out in the media while the city’s business still needs to be handled.
That is why I called for his resignation. It was not about one photograph, one allegation or my campaign. It was about what I believe has become a pattern of controversy and distraction from the work the City of Inglewood needs its leadership focused on.
I also want to be clear that I have not been served with a lawsuit and no court has found that anything I said at my press conference was false or defamatory. There have been references to a cease and desist letter, but a letter is not a court ruling and it does not determine that someone did anything wrong. And I have not received one.
At no time did I say I witnessed the alleged incident. I did not present the allegation as a proven fact. I said there were serious allegations, I identified them as allegations, and I called for an independent investigation.
I stand by my right to ask questions and demand accountability when serious concerns are raised involving an elected official and a young person.
If my words are going to be reported, then I expect them to be reported accurately and in the full context in which they were said.
Respectfully,
Yolanda Davidson
Founder, Press for Justice
Candidate for Inglewood City Council, District 1
