Encinitas City Council to consider dismissal of committee member after outcry over social media post

This article first appeared in inewsource. Sign up for their newsletters here.

Daunté Fyall still remembers waking up to an Encinitas city official’s February social media post about West African dancing that he found deeply offensive. 

The since-deleted post was a screenshot of a video of an event put together during Black History Month by the Black Student Union at Canyon Crest Academy in the San Dieguito Union High School District. 

In the post, Steven Houbeck, an appointee on Encinitas’ Urban Forest Advisory Committee, wrote that Superintendent Anne Staffieri of SDUHSD recently sent an email to parents “depicting Black contributions to American history.” He said the video showed “scenes of blacks dressed in tribal gear banging on drums.” 

Fyall, an Encinitas resident who teaches West African dance at UC San Diego and has partnered with Encinitas West African Dance for over a decade, was offended by the post’s use of the word “blacks” and its apparent disparagement of an art form he cherishes. 

For two months, Fyall and others have called for Houbeck’s removal from the city committee he serves on at six separate City Council and committee meetings. 

On Wednesday, the Encinitas City Council will consider his dismissal.

Councilmember Joy Lyndes added it to the meeting agenda. 

“This rose to the level of concern from a group of constituents.” Lyndes told inewsource. “I thought it earned or deserved a full conversation and an explanation. I almost feel like I’m a facilitator here for the conversation. I don’t know how committed I am to which way it goes, but I think it’s incumbent upon us to bring things into the public forum when the public is concerned.”

A conversation on Facebook

The original Feb. 13 post was in the popular Encinitas Facebook group “Encinitas Insider,” where Houbeck is identified as a “top contributor” because of his interactions there. The account has 1,800 members and is a regular forum for debates about city politics. 

When Encinitas resident Stephanie Chatfield wrote on Houbeck’s post to ask what he meant, Houbeck replied that the school district’s superintendent was “exhibiting soft racism.”

“No mention of Justice Clarence Thomas of SCOTUS, economic greats like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams,” Houbeck wrote. “Artists like Prince that donated millions to charities anonymously, Padres great Tony Gwynn who also donated his time and money to the San Diego community. It’s racist for the Left to denigrate accomplished blacks because they’re Conservative.”

Fyall commented on Houbeck’s post that it was a “blatant slap.” 

“Calling us ‘blacks’ like some unseasoned, dusty relic from segregation days?” Fyall wrote. “That’s dehumanizing poison you’re spewing, clown—erasing our humanity and origins, posting a poor highlight of beautiful individuals from our community just to feed your narcissistic minstrel show account.”

Fyall added that reducing the West African dance traditions to “banging on drums” and “tribal gear” was “an attempted erasure of profound art forms.” 

Comments mounted in back-and-forth arguments about the post until an administrator eventually turned them off. 

The group’s moderators then posted that it had blocked several people from the page because they had no connection to Encinitas and wrote, “Do not come here to agitate.” 

For Fyall and his wife, Tia Grant, being blocked felt like a direct attack. They had just moved to Encinitas and their social media profiles did not show that yet. In a city of some 61,000 residents where Black people make up less than 1% of the population, the couple was beginning to feel unwelcome and worried for their 6-month-old twins. 

Moderators of the account did not delete Houbeck’s post at first because of his initial defense of it. The post was eventually deleted in late March.

A conversation in public

Meanwhile, a group that included Fyall, Grant and Theresa Beauchamp and Rachel Leshaw of Encinitas West African Dance has been contacting City Council members and showing up at public meetings with signs and with others advocating for Houbeck’s removal.

Grant said that people in city leadership positions should not be referring to African Americans or Black Americans as “blacks” or disparaging traditions like West African drum and dance. 

His removal, she said, would make families like hers feel more safe.

“If diversity is what they’re encouraging, then people like that need to be called out and removed, so that people like us who are full Black families can feel safe living in these types of neighborhoods and feeling safe to send their kids to the local school.”

Houbeck was appointed to the committee on Feb. 11, two days before his comments on Facebook. He discussed the controversy at his first Urban Forest Advisory Committee meeting last month. He said that his post was made before becoming a member of the committee and that the post “may have conveyed the wrong impression.” 

“My intent was never to degrade members of the community or artistic dancers,” he said. “I celebrate diversity and artistic expressions.”

He added, “I look upon this as a learning opportunity to be more sensitive to the words I use in certain venues and subjects. I do regret any harm that may have caused to members of the community.”

It’s unclear if the four other members of the City Council would vote to remove Houbeck.

Lyndes said her move did not necessarily mean she was going to vote to remove him, but that she wanted the City Council to have the conversation at a meeting.

“I think there’s lots of merit to discussing things as a group,” she said. “I can’t predict how this will go. This is going to be an opportunity for us to give our thoughts if anybody wants to. This is how we do business.”