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Parade.
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A black New Castle County official has suggested her race and gender affected her placement in the rear of the Middletown peach festival parade last month.
Middletown Historical Society members, who organized the parade, said they were flabbergasted by Register of Wills Diane Clarke Streett's claim. They said they went out of their way to accommodate Streett, who signed up late and did not have her own car to ride in.
"I think we went above and beyond," said Dick Smyth, parade chairman. "I just feel like the Middletown Historical Society has been slandered."
Streett did not return phone messages left at her home and office Tuesday. Her chief deputy, Nina Bawa, said Streett would have no comment.
But in an Aug. 23 letter to the historical society, Streett said she was "extremely disappointed" by her placement.
"I was the only elected official at the end. ... I was not only segregated from the other elected officials but I was placed behind a dance school, tumblers and miniature ponies," she wrote. "I should have been positioned with other [Caucasian, male] county elected officers."
Middletown Councilman Robert McGhee, who also is black, was a parade judge. He remembers seeing black participants in groups throughout the lineup. "I don't think it was racism," he said.
Exceptions made for entry
Festival leaders said they bent the rules to accommodate Streett. The parade's registration deadline was Aug. 1, but when Bawa called Smyth on Aug. 2 to say Streett wanted to be in the parade, Smyth faxed her an entry form. He sent a second form Aug. 3 to be sure she got it. Later that day, he received a completed form and a note asking for placement in an open car because Streett did not have transportation.
"It's our policy not to provide vehicles," Smyth said. He made an exception, arranging to borrow a car and secure a driver for Streett. "We didn't do that for anyone else," Smyth said.
Lineup considerations
He and festival chairman Jeff Rankin organized the parade lineup. They placed those who registered earlier toward the front while mixing up the types of participants throughout the lineup to give the parade variety.
This year, they also placed two crowd favorites -- Little Miss Peach and the Middletown High School Marching Band -- near the rear to keep the crowd's attention. Streett's placement was equivalent to the spot that state Rep. Richard C. Cathcart, R-Middletown -- a white man -- was given last year, the men said.
Smyth, who moved to Middletown two years ago, said he never had seen a picture of Streett or met her before the day of parade. He said he did not know she was black when positioning her in the parade.
In her letter, Streett said festival organizers should have moved her that morning when they saw she would be separated from other elected officials.
"The insensitive choice to place this county elected official at the end of your parade line was also noticed by people along the parade route," she said. "It reflected poorly on Middletown and was not in keeping with a town of progress, growth and inclusiveness."
Historical society leaders were drafting a response Tuesday, Rankin said. "For the 12 years that we've been doing this, we've never had any complaints about the placement in the parade," Rankin said.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050914/NEWS01/509140338/1006
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A black New Castle County official has suggested her race and gender affected her placement in the rear of the Middletown peach festival parade last month.
Middletown Historical Society members, who organized the parade, said they were flabbergasted by Register of Wills Diane Clarke Streett's claim. They said they went out of their way to accommodate Streett, who signed up late and did not have her own car to ride in.
"I think we went above and beyond," said Dick Smyth, parade chairman. "I just feel like the Middletown Historical Society has been slandered."
Streett did not return phone messages left at her home and office Tuesday. Her chief deputy, Nina Bawa, said Streett would have no comment.
But in an Aug. 23 letter to the historical society, Streett said she was "extremely disappointed" by her placement.
"I was the only elected official at the end. ... I was not only segregated from the other elected officials but I was placed behind a dance school, tumblers and miniature ponies," she wrote. "I should have been positioned with other [Caucasian, male] county elected officers."
Middletown Councilman Robert McGhee, who also is black, was a parade judge. He remembers seeing black participants in groups throughout the lineup. "I don't think it was racism," he said.
Exceptions made for entry
Festival leaders said they bent the rules to accommodate Streett. The parade's registration deadline was Aug. 1, but when Bawa called Smyth on Aug. 2 to say Streett wanted to be in the parade, Smyth faxed her an entry form. He sent a second form Aug. 3 to be sure she got it. Later that day, he received a completed form and a note asking for placement in an open car because Streett did not have transportation.
"It's our policy not to provide vehicles," Smyth said. He made an exception, arranging to borrow a car and secure a driver for Streett. "We didn't do that for anyone else," Smyth said.
Lineup considerations
He and festival chairman Jeff Rankin organized the parade lineup. They placed those who registered earlier toward the front while mixing up the types of participants throughout the lineup to give the parade variety.
This year, they also placed two crowd favorites -- Little Miss Peach and the Middletown High School Marching Band -- near the rear to keep the crowd's attention. Streett's placement was equivalent to the spot that state Rep. Richard C. Cathcart, R-Middletown -- a white man -- was given last year, the men said.
Smyth, who moved to Middletown two years ago, said he never had seen a picture of Streett or met her before the day of parade. He said he did not know she was black when positioning her in the parade.
In her letter, Streett said festival organizers should have moved her that morning when they saw she would be separated from other elected officials.
"The insensitive choice to place this county elected official at the end of your parade line was also noticed by people along the parade route," she said. "It reflected poorly on Middletown and was not in keeping with a town of progress, growth and inclusiveness."
Historical society leaders were drafting a response Tuesday, Rankin said. "For the 12 years that we've been doing this, we've never had any complaints about the placement in the parade," Rankin said.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050914/NEWS01/509140338/1006
