Portland's former DEI director says he was 'abruptly fired'

Umaru Balde, Portland's former director of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, at City Hall in April 2023. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Umaru Balde says he didn't resign as Portland's diversity director—he was fired.

The former head of the Office of Equity, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion left the post in May after just over a year on the job. In July, a city spokesman said Balde had resigned. But in an interview with the Press Herald on Tuesday, Balde said that was not the case.

“I did not suddenly resign, as the city claims. I was suddenly fired,” he said.

Balde said he was not given a reason for his firing and clashed often with City Manager Danielle West and Mayor Mark Dion during his tenure. He said his position was unclear from the start and his efforts to take meaningful action were stonewalled by city leaders.

West and Dion both declined to discuss Balde's departure and his allegations.

A city spokesman referred to a termination agreement signed by Balde, which states: “The employee agrees to give up his position with the city” and that “this termination is to be considered 'by mutual consent.'”

But Balde said he was told he had to sign the agreement to receive a $20,000 severance package – money he desperately needed. He now regrets ever signing the agreement, he said.

Strained relationships

First, according to Balde, he was asked to review the city's 2021 Racial Equity Steering Committee's recommendations for creating more equitable conditions in the city and to provide a plan for their implementation.

Balde said he worked hard to put together the assessment. He presented it to West and said he was told the next step was to present his work to the City Council. But West repeatedly removed his presentation from the council agenda when other items came up that she considered more important.

“I was surprised because this was actually a priority, but it was taken off the agenda every time,” said Balde.

This report has still not been presented to the Council, which held its first DEI workshop on Monday.

Balde said his ideas were often rejected by city leaders.

Last fall, Balde said, a wall in the Back Cove area was covered with anti-Semitic hate speech following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He received emails and calls from the municipality about it, asking if the graffiti could be removed. He said he was told no, and when he asked to issue a statement condemning it, the city manager again said he could not.

When he wanted to conduct a survey and hold hearings with minority groups across the city to collect data on their experiences, he was told there was no budget for it.

Then he realized that the entire department budget had been spent on the salaries of the two employees. There was nothing left over.

However, he said that West and Dion even resisted when he found a way to do it for free.

“The mayor said he was interested in engaging the neighborhoods and was concerned that the issue would become politicized. Danielle and Mark basically discouraged me from doing this work,” he said.

He was fired the following week. According to the results of Monday's workshop, the city ultimately sent the surveys only to city employees.

“SHOCKED AND SURPRISED”

After months of postponement, West finally met in February and was presented with a performance improvement plan, a formal warning that an employee was not meeting expectations and needed to improve his performance.

“I was shocked and surprised,” he said.

Balde said he was accused of accepting money for a speaking appearance by the League of Women Voters. He said the organization did send him a check after his speech at their event, but he consulted with city attorneys and eventually returned the check.

He said West also objected to his handling of a proposal by Dion, then a city councillor, to form a new twin town relationship with Garissa in Kenya.

When Balde raised concerns about the partnership because of the town's safety, Dion brought those concerns to the attention of officials in Garissa and “basically destroyed my relationship with that community,” Balde said.

Afterwards he said that his relationship with Dion had been strained.

Balde said when he raised these concerns with West, she insisted he sign the performance improvement plan and was not interested in discussing the matter further. He said he was told if he did not sign the plan within 24 hours, he would be fired immediately.

“It feels like discrimination”

Balde said he was required to submit weekly reports to West as part of the plan, but those went unanswered and he received no further feedback. About two months later, Balde said, he was called into a meeting and fired.

He was told the city would inform the public that he left on good terms and that the “decision to part ways” was mutual. Months later, Balde said he still couldn't understand what went wrong.

“I don't want to say it's racism, but the level of disrespect and false allegations feels like discrimination,” he said.

Balde said it saddens him to see what the city is doing now with DEI work. He watched the City Council workshop and was disappointed by what he saw.

“They're doing HR work, they're not doing DEI work,” Balde said. “The whole presentation was about hiring and retention, there was nothing about equity. There was nothing about how we respond to minority communities.”

Balde expressed hope that the city can get back on track, but he said he believes it will be difficult to make progress as long as the Office of Racial Equity remains so vaguely defined.

“Before anyone else is hired for this position, they need to make sure the city leadership understands what this position is and can clearly define it. Because I was told we were going to build this plane while we were flying it, and that didn't work,” he said.

Copy the story link