A series of lawsuits filed against Homewood city departments have alleged troubling patterns of racial discrimination and offensive language by department heads and police officers who patrol the suburb just south of Birmingham.

While a new suit objects to treatment within the fire department, two older suits involving the police department have seen new filings with incendiary claims of overt racist statements by police.

Recently filed court documents in a case against the Homewood Police Department contend that a sergeant called a Black officer “tar baby.” Former officer Jon Newland, who is white, said in an affidavit filed on August 7 the police department tolerated a racist culture and described the training offices as a “White Guys Clubhouse.” In the same affidavit, Newland said Homewood officers targeted non-whites for traffic stops in an area nicknamed “the woodpile” that has a higher proportion of minority drivers.

All three lawsuits contend that department heads favored white employees in promotion and disciplinary decisions.

Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky did not respond to AL.com’s requests for comment for this article.

Police Chief Tim Ross said the department could not comment on pending litigation.

The city, which has a highly rated school system and sits in an area convenient to downtown Birmingham, has seen a significant increase in the price of housing in recent years as newcomers flock to the area. The influx of new residents has transformed the city’s politics. While other over-the-mountain suburbs vote solidly Republican, Homewood voters split closer to the middle.

Kelly Housholder and her family moved to Homewood four years ago from Colorado, drawn by a mid-century fixer upper on a quiet, family friendly street. She became aware of allegations filed by former police dispatcher Charity Howard several years ago. Housholder, who is white, hoped to raise awareness of the issue during the 2020 mayoral election.

“I was enraged,” Housholder wrote in an email. “I immediately summoned everyone I could think of from the Mayoral candidates, to current and running city council folks, to Homewood citizens. I truly believed that if people knew about these lawsuits, they’d also be moved to action.”

Since then, she has become aware of more lawsuits against the city involving police and a firefighter. Housholder said leaders have not done enough about these allegations to root out racism in the departments.

“In Homewood, we are all stuck in a vicious lawsuit cycle where the city leaders refuse to speak (as advised by the city lawyer), and they follow the legal proceedings where they adamantly refuse any wrongdoing and gaslight those who filed the lawsuits,” Housholder wrote.

About 80 percent of the nearly 28,000 Homewood residents identify as white, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimates. The three city employees who filed lawsuits are Black, and their supervisors are white.

Demetrius Webb, the most recent employee to sue the City of Homewood, served 36 years in the Homewood Fire Department but said in court documents he was passed over for promotion to battalion chief due to racial discrimination. That lawsuit was filed in August against the city and Fire Chief Nicholas Hill.

“We have a department that we believe engaged in blatant race discrimination by passing over a highly qualified Black candidate for promotion and then punished that candidate when he had the audacity to speak out about it,” said Artur Davis, the attorney representing Webb.

Webb had been a captain for several years when he applied for the position. The new fire chief changed the interview process, according to Davis. He also created a new requirement that applicants pass a physical test but didn’t allow Webb to take it. After Webb filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Davis contends, he was required to take another physical and ruled unfit for duty, despite being cleared by previous exams.

Davis said Webb was the last Black employee to be promoted by the Homewood Fire Department in 2017.

“It is a department that has very few Blacks, and the Blacks that are there have run into a very sharp-edged glass ceiling,” Davis said.

In a statement, a spokesperson from the fire department denied Webb’s allegations.

“The City and Chief Hill were concerned that Captain Webb could not pass a fitness test,” the statement said. “Captain Webb expressed concern that he could not pass a test, and he did not take the test. Captain Webb also decided during his career not to obtain paramedic certification, which is an important credential in any Fire Department. The City did not discriminate against Captain Webb, and Chief Hill did not retaliate against him.”

An email sent by a white firefighter to city leaders and provided to AL.com reiterated Webb’s allegations of racial bias.

“Homewood fire Department is run by White Males,” said the email from firefighter Tony Franklin. “The current Administration has not promoted a single non white male. In a city that prides itself on diversity I find this troubling.”

Franklin also filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged retaliation after he raised concerns about racial bias in the fire department. He was reassigned to another fire station where he said he would face extra scrutiny from department leadership due to a belief that he is stoking “racial strife” in the department, the charge said.

“This is a very volatile time in the department because a race discrimination case has been filed against the City of Homewood and Chief Hill by former Capt. Webb and the HFD leadership is concerned,” the charge said.

The city has not yet filed a response to Webb’s lawsuit in federal court.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not ruled on Franklin’s charge of retaliation for raising concerns.

Meanwhile, the police department is in the middle of two lawsuits against the city. Each could go to trial next year and each has recently seen new claims of racist statements by officers.

Charity Howard filed her lawsuit in 2022 after she was fired in 2020 as a dispatcher from the Homewood Police Department. Her supervisors suspended her in June 2020 for posting on social media during work hours, including commenting on posts related to George Floyd protests. After Howard filed grievances alleging that she was punished more harshly than white employees who posted racially offensive statements online, she was fired, according to her complaint.

Howard’s complaint includes several allegations of racist behavior by other employees of the Homewood Police Department. A “particularly racist” white officer called his Black colleague a “tar baby” and received no punishment, Howard’s suit claims. Another officer faced no penalty after he posted a meme on Facebook that included a racial slur for Asians. According to the suit, the Homewood officer posted: “We used to stack Gooks like you four deep in Korea.”

In contrast, Howard’s suspension for posting in support of protesters was unfair and racially biased, her complaint said.

“Although Homewood’s Police Department claims to have ‘zero tolerance’ regarding racism within it, in fact, the HPD leadership and decision makers overlook and/or otherwise give short-shrift to racist acts committed by its Caucasian employees,” the complaint said.

In a response to the lawsuit, attorneys for Homewood said Howard was fired for refusing to answer questions about her social media use while on shift as a dispatcher. She was supposed to be monitoring the livestream of a protest for the police but spent 10 to 15 minutes posting and responding to comments, the city contends. Other employees’ social media posts occurred when they were off the clock. Anecdotal evidence and hearsay about other employees’ experience does not amount to a “culture” problem, the response said.

The case could go to trial in June of 2024.

Howard filed a previous lawsuit in 2019 alleging that she was scrutinized more closely for taking medical leave than white dispatchers. A magistrate judge dismissed the case, but an appeals court partially reversed that decision, reinstating her claims of retaliation for making medical claims, but dismissing racial bias accusations. That case is ongoing.

The other ongoing lawsuit involving the police department was filed by Black Officer Victor Sims in 2022.

A supervisor told Sims in 2021 he would be reassigned from the special investigations unit to serve in patrol or as a school resource officer, a transfer that was motivated by race, he alleged.

Other officers who are white were allowed to stay in special assignments permanently, Sims alleged, while he was forced to follow a policy that required reassignments after five years. After he filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the suit claims, Homewood Police Chief Tim Ross eliminated the special investigations unit and demoted Sims to patrol.

In court documents, Sims accused department heads of having “double standards” for Black officers, who faced higher scrutiny in decisions about promotions and discipline. His lawsuit is also scheduled to go to trial in June 2024.

Former Homewood Police Officer Jon Newland filed an affidavit in support of Sims. It contained the allegation, “A culture of racism exists within the HPD,” according to the affidavit.

But Newland, who is white, had a controversial run with the department. In 2020, a rap video he posted on Facebook created outrage in the community after many interpreted references to “Valhalla” and the “rebel yell” as racist dog whistles. He received a three-day suspension after dozens of protesters gathered in Homewood.

Newland’s affidavit alleged that some Homewood police officers targeted minority drivers for traffic stops.

Sims filed a previous discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2015, alleging he was forced to work during a Black Lives Matter Protest because of his race and passed over for promotion. The agency was not able to make a finding of racism, but the former police chief announced his retirement soon after the allegations became public.

The city has not yet filed a response to Webb’s lawsuit in federal court. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not made a finding on Franklin’s charge.

In its statement, the fire department said Webb’s complaint had inaccuracies and omissions.

“The City of Homewood has a racial composition in its workforce similar to the racial composition of workforces in surrounding communities,” the statement said. “The City and Chief Hill will defend this lawsuit vigorously.”