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Residents urge review of committee member after racialized social‑media repost
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Summary
Multiple residents and cultural leaders told the Encinitas City Council the social‑media repost by a city appointee demeaned a West African student assembly and called for the council to agendize a formal review of the appointee’s fitness to serve.
Several members of Encinitas’s West African dance and arts community urged the City Council to review and remove a committee member after a social‑media repost they said demeaned a Black History Month student assembly.
Lisonbee Smith, a UC San Diego dance professor who identified herself as an Encinitas resident, told the council: “I'm here to urge you to remove committee member Steve Hubeck from his appointment with the city of Encinitas.” She described the repost as labeling students “blacks dressed in tribal gear and banging on drums,” and said the language was “extremely harmful to the black community.”
Dante Anabimu Edward Mustafa Anabimu Edward Fayal, a cultural arts educator and leader in the local West African dance community, said the post “dehumanized individuals of African descent” and asked the council to invest in cultural‑literacy programs, including drum and dance education and history seminars in parks and schools.
Victoria Fulton, who said she previously wrote to condemn the remarks, told the council the repost reduced a school program to “blacks dressed in tribal gear banging drums” and called community members’ concerns “at best ignorant, naive, and irresponsible, and at worst…boldly and dismissively racist.” Beth Taylor, speaking as a resident of District 1, urged the council to place removal of the appointee on a future agenda for public discussion and a possible vote.
Speakers from the Encinitas West African dance community emphasized the harms they said the post caused to students and families and requested accountability from an official who represents the city. Several commenters asked the council to hold a formal review and to consider educational responses to prevent similar harms.
The council did not take immediate formal action on removal during this meeting; public commenters repeatedly asked that the matter be put on a future agenda so the community’s concerns could be considered openly.
The council will receive additional public comments later in the meeting and may be asked by residents to agendize a formal review of the appointee’s fitness to serve.
