‘Sorry’ is the hardest word, but Kyle Battie needs to say it
To paraphrase the great musician Elton John, “sorry” really is the hardest word to say at times.
But “sorry” is exactly the word that Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battie must utter right now.
Battie should do it so that the emotional outcry that now rages over whether a specific individual posted racially offensive material on social media can properly evolve into a reasoned discussion over the fact that a racist act did occur in our community – one that shouldn’t be taking place in this city under any circumstances.
Look, it’s highly problematic to go too deeply into the weeds on the back-and-forth regarding the controversy. But here’s what appears to be beyond much contention:
● During a Jan. 16 meeting, Battie – a Black male commissioner on the five-member Sarasota City Commission – rightly expressed outrage over a Facebook post that referred to him and the co-owner of a local downtown business, who is half-Black, as “gorillas.”
● During his passionate presentation, Battie displayed a copy of the racist post in a manner that appeared to attribute the material to a resident who is also a vocal activist on city issues.
● While Battie never specifically mentioned the resident’s name during his remarks, the perception was allowed to linger that there was link between the citizen and the offensive post.
● The resident quickly denied any involvement with – or prior knowledge of – the racist post.
● The resident stated that the material had been manufactured by others who had taken words she’d written for a Dec. 2022 Facebook post – which was accompanied by photos of gorillas she had seen during a past safari trip – and used them to produce a hoax post specifically targeting Battie and the business co-owner.
● The resident retained a lawyer who has notified the city that his client intends to sue Battie.
● During the city commission’s Feb. 5 meeting, Battie doubled down on his previous remarks and the commissioners voted to cover his legal expenses for the expected lawsuit.
Without question, we need a definitive answer regarding “who” is responsible for the racial post. And, also without question, anyone who had nothing to do with the reprehensible post must be publicly and unequivocally acknowledged as having no role.
However, what’s been lost in the furor over the “who” is an indisputable obligation to find an answer to a “why,” as well: Why is there obviously a virulent environment in Sarasota that keeps allowing racism and antisemitism to fester – and keeps empowering parties to exploit it in our city?
And Battie should do what’s needed to help our community move on to the “why.”
The commissioner should muster up whatever needs to be mustered to apologize for, at minimum, openly presenting the racially offensive material in a careless manner that clearly allowed perceptions to be made without equally clear proof on hand to support them.
It would start the process of moving the focus of this squabble from where it’s been for too long – “Who did this?” – to where it’s needed to be all along: “Why is this still happening here?”
Yes, “sorry” may be the toughest word to say. But Battie should say it – now – so we can start the tough conversation that this sorry episode proves we need to have.