SPOKANE, Wash. — Cupid Alexander, the man who for the last seven months has been in charge of Spokane's homelessness response, accused City Administrator Johnnie Perkins of treating him differently because he is Black in an email obtained by KREM.
On Tuesday, Alexander surprisingly announced he was resigning, but did not reveal any friction with other city leaders, saying in statements only that he was "transition[ing] to another journey at the end of next month," and that "the timing was right for me."
But in an email sent to Perkins on Wednesday morning, on which many other city leaders were copied, Alexander expressed extreme frustration with his treatment and experience working for the city.
"You have a routine history of misconstruing and inaccurately representing words and actions," Alexander wrote. "You have treated me in comparison to my peers in a very disparate way."
Alexander complained that Perkins was attempting to force him out of his role sooner than his announced July 30 end date by omitting him from meetings and asking him to hand over duties.
"I have nothing to do, as you have 'taken it all from here,'" he wrote. "You have not done this to ANY other leader in housing except me. I've watched as they have come and go, and yet none of them were treated like this, even as they took MONTHS of leave off with zero notice, leaving me and others to scrape together the work... even as I was a new employee who received ZERO onboarding."
"I'm trying to move on in peace, quite frankly for this EXACT treatment. And yet it continues. I'm unsure of why I'm being treated like this... I assume it's race," Alexander wrote. "As the lone black employee I'm tired of this treatment."
Alexander also described in the email an incident during which he says Perkins said that his son thought Alexander looked athletic, after which he asked whether Alexander played sports. Alexander said the remarks "had nothing to do with our conversation... and was stereotyping me in every possible way imaginable."
"I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this has been intentionally unethical, unequitable... direct mistreatment that I can attribute from YOUR treatment of me Johnnie, to my race," he wrote.
Furthermore, Alexander complained in his email that Perkins routinely asked communications be made in person rather than via email, so their conversations wouldn't be susceptible to public records requests.
"You were worried of the public information," he wrote. "Leadership requires accountability."
The departure marks continuing struggles for the City of Spokane to retain high-level staff, especially in housing.
The City of Spokane issued the following statement Wednesday regarding the allegations and the state of Alexander's employment:
Mr. Alexander remains employed by the City in paid status with full benefits through July 30, the date he requested as his final day. Human Resources is communicating with him on further details.
The allegations Mr. Alexander made in the email are very serious. Racism has no place in the organization, community, or country. Questions have been asked during his time with the City to gain greater clarity and understanding about work and resource needs related to the division’s responsibilities for neighborhoods, customer service, housing, and homelessness. Race has not been a subject of those conversations.
Connection and comparison to the recent departures of two other employees within Community, Housing, and Human Services, a department within the Neighborhoods, Housing, and Human Services division, are not compatible. The situations are unique to the individuals and it is unfair to draw parallels between them.
A transition plan to continue advancing all NHHS work, including next steps announced in the homelessness plan, will be finalized once meetings with staff are completed to gain their perspectives on the division’s needs moving forward. Recruitment has already begun to find a CHHS department director and finalists have been identified for the senior manager position in CHHS.
In 2019, under Mayor David Condon, Kelly Keenan, the Director of Community Housing and Human Services, resigned amidst fierce debate over the city's sheltering system.
His interim replacement was Tim Sigler, who himself resigned only a few weeks ago. Other key duties regarding homelessness were performed by Tija Danzig, who also left this year.
Alexander was brought on as the Director of Neighborhoods, Housing and Human and Services in November of 2020.
Perkins, meanwhile, was hired from San Diego in March of 2021, filling a vacancy left by Mayor Nadine Woodward's first administrator, Wes Crago, who suddenly resigned in September of 2020.
KREM requested further comment from Alexander, who did not immediately respond.