Melissa Nann Burke

The News Journal

Several Newark community members quickly rose to defend Amy Roe

The Rev. Christopher Bullock%2C president of the New Castle County Council%2C felt a %22moral imperative%22 to speak out

Union and civil rights leaders on Tuesday denounced a top member of the anti-power plant movement in Newark, demanding she apologize for what they deemed as "classist, elitist and racist" remarks in a private letter to university officials.

They highlighted a portion of an April 2 letter by Amy Roe suggesting that workers who build the plant on campus could pose a threat to University of Delaware students: "I now worry for the safety of the young women who attend UD," Roe wrote.

Several Newark community members quickly rose to defend Roe, noting she's an active member of the NAACP who has worked to eliminate the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on minorities. They said Roe traveled to the nation's capital last year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic March on Washington.

"Amy Roe is not a racist. She is not a classist. That's crazy," said Gary Hayman, president of the Newark chapter of the NAACP.

"She's been involved in every fight over environmental justice. She's been working with us for a long, long time. I'm really, really upset with what they did today. It's all about that power plant. It's political."

The episode prompted advocates for and against a 279-megawatt power plant on campus to accuse the other of engaging in hyperbole and smear tactics.

Jennifer Wallace, who sits on the steering committee of the grassroots group Newark Residents Against the Power Plant with Roe, called the allegations "unsubstantiated, baseless lies," and raised concerns about who at UD leaked the letter to union leaders.

"I've read the letter, and I don't see where they can make these claims," Wallace said. "It's an attempt to silence someone who has been effective in helping to bring out a dialogue about an issue that needed more sunshine."

Ken Grant, spokesman for project developer The Data Centers LLC, said, "Everyone involved with the data-center project is troubled by the revelation that a significant motivation for opposition to this plan stems from such an irrational fear, and we hope this is only one person's offensive reasoning, and not reflective of others in our community."

Roe was unavailable for comment.

Her letter is largely a personal plea to the UD trustees about the potential impact of the plant. A portion of the letter recounts the union turnout at a March zoning hearing, where most were "well-behaved," but some "had been drinking and smelled of alcohol," and many "acted in a manner that was intimidating."

"These are people that The Data Centers LLC will invite into our community to build their power plant," Roe wrote. "Are we about to return to those days when I had to fear to walk through my neighborhood after dark?"

Roe never mentions race or class. Still, Delaware AFL-CIO President Sam Lathem objected to the letter's tone and "the way it was worded."

"The Laborers Local 199 in Newark is 85 to 95 percent African American. I think she's aware of that," said Lathem, a supporter of the data center and power-plant complex. "Maybe I'm reading more into it than it is. But when you make fear references in relation to young women and students in the City of Newark, the image comes to mind that you need to fear these guys. I just conjure up this image of African Americans, and maybe that's because I'm African American."

The Rev. Christopher Bullock, president of the New Castle County Council, learned of the letter from the AFL-CIO and felt a "moral imperative" to speak out, he said.

"I felt compelled to make a stand against those kind of remarks and insensitive characterizations of working people, who all they want to do is work and to help their families and move into the middle class or at least sustain themselves economically," said Bullock, pastor of New Canaan Baptist Church.

Gov. Jack Markell backed Lathem and Bullock.

"The suggestion that the presence of tradesmen at a potential campus construction site would somehow threaten public safety is both insulting to working people and very much at odds with the diverse and welcoming community where I grew up," said Markell, who got the letter as a member of the UD Board of Trustees.

"I am glad that the AFL-CIO and other leaders denounced that kind of rhetoric today, and I hope we can return civility to this debate."

Contact Melissa Nann Burke at (302) 324-2329, mburke@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @nannburke.

UD UNION ENDORSES RESOLUTION

The steering committee of the union representing University of Delaware faculty has unanimously endorsed the recent resolution adopted by the UD Faculty Senate urging the administration not to allow construction of a gas-fired power plant on campus.

Roughly half of UD's full-time faculty are members of the UD Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The May 6 vote by the steering committee was 23-0, according to the chapter newsletter.