Herbalist and owner of Black, Indigenous and people of color and LGBTQ+ safe Jane Minor Community Medicine Garden Amanda David has filed a lawsuit against neighbor Robert Whittaker for alleged discrimination, which she has documented over the past three years.
David is alleging that Whittaker discriminated against her, her home and her business based on race, color and sex in violation of the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the New York State Human Rights Law. According to the complaint, she also “seeks relief for defendant Whittaker’s discriminatory and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
In an interview with The Sun, Whittaker maintained that he is “totally innocent of all the allegations.”
The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office wrote to The Sun that they have investigated several reports regarding David and Whittaker. Despite making three separate arrests, the Sheriff’s Office said there is insufficient evidence to support the allegations that Whittaker’s actions “meet the standard necessary for an elevated Hate Crime charge according to law.”
David is the owner of Rootwork Herbals — a community herbalism project that fosters herbal education through the People’s Medicine School and the Jane Minor BIPOC Community Medicine Garden, which works to foster connection with plants, land and medicine. Her garden hosts events and classes and provides a community herb drying shed, hoop house, classroom space, lending library of herb books and a free herbal medicine cabinet.
The Jane Minor BIPOC Community Medicine Garden is operated from David’s property in the town of Caroline, located 20 minutes southeast of Ithaca. According to David, this garden aims to create a safe space for Black, brown and LGBTQIA+ individuals around the Ithaca area.
However, due to alleged continual threats and discriminatory acts from Whittaker, this garden’s status as a safe space — and as an operable business — has been threatened, according to David.
In a press release obtained by The Sun, Melanie Allen and Olivia Watkins, co-executive directors of the Black Farmer Fund wrote about the threats that David has faced.
“Amanda and her family have endured continuous racial threats and violence, underscoring the urgent need for a safe environment where Rootwork Herbals, the People’s Medicine School and [the] Jane Minor BIPOC medicine garden can continue serving as a sanctuary for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities to connect with the land, their cultural heritage and healing practices,” wrote Allen and Watkins.
According to the 2022 USDA Census, over the last five years, the number of Black producers in the U.S. declined by four percent of its Black producers. Allen and Watkins wrote that this larger trend can be tied to the systemic oppression and discrimination that Black producers and farmers, including David, experience.
“This is a direct result of the systemic racism Black farmers have faced for generations, encompassing everything from discriminatory lending practices to community violence and intimidation,” Allen and Watkins wrote in the press release.
The Incidents
Whittaker has been charged twice with criminal harassment in the second degree for verbal harassment, fourth-degree criminal mischief and violating an order of protection by shooting her chicken coop light with a BB gun.
In addition, David alleges Whittaker has vandalized her son’s car, spray painted her fence, threateningly shot a BB gun in the air during a teen gardening session, removed sections of her fence and threatened to hit her son with a stick, among other offenses.
There were no witnesses for many of these incidents, and Whittaker has denied these claims when asked by the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Officers and The Sun.
Despite consistent police reports and interactions over a span of three years and measures such as an order of protection — a court order requiring Whittaker not to speak to or interact with David — Whittaker has allegedly continued to engage with David and her family.
While David was granted an order of protection with a surrender of firearms, she says it has been ignored on numerous occasions by Whittaker. Whittaker allegedly continued to verbally harass and insult David and her family, which she recorded on her phone and presented to the police.
However, due to Whittaker’s not saying David’s name in the videos presented, this potential violation of the order of protection was invalidated by the police due to a “lack of sufficient evidence.”
“That’s not considered a violation of the order of protection even though he’s not supposed to talk to me — because he’s not saying my name, he’s just calling me an ‘f*cking handout’ repeatedly whenever I’m outside,” David said.
Whittaker denied this allegation of harassment when speaking to The Sun.
In a police report on a later dispute, Whittaker maintained that he no longer communicates with David in accordance with the order of protection.
Rather than acknowledging incidents in the context of the order of protection and previous harassment by Whittaker, David feels that the local authorities are continually dismissing her concerns. While David presents the perspective that Whittaker’s harassment is racially charged, Whittaker maintains this is untrue.
“This is nothing to do with race or color, it’s just about respect for neighbors,” Whittaker told The Sun. “If she would be quiet and leave me alone, I would be quiet and leave her alone.”
Whittaker expressed being disturbed by the David’s loud music, bright farm lights and crowds attracted by their business. Additionally, he expressed distress for her pastures and chicken coops being so close to his property.
“I think we do need some zoning to keep people from putting a goat and chicken farm on an acre of land right between two residential houses,” Whittaker said. “It’s within 250 feet of houses on both sides.”
The Lawsuit
David and her family are seeking relocation from their home of several years and filing a federal housing discrimination suit against Whittaker.
“It’s just about trying to recoup some of the expenses because this is not only my home, but it’s also my place of business,” David said.
The conclusions of the lawsuit are yet to be pronounced, as the court proceedings have not yet begun.
When asked to comment on the allegations, Syed Omar Shah, Whittaker’s lawyer, told The Sun, “We have moved in to dismiss Ms. David’s claims in federal court.”
According to Casey Weissman-Vermeulen, staff attorney for CNY Fair Housing, David will oppose Whittaker’s motion to dismiss.
While David intends to continue with the lawsuit, she expressed how difficult it was to find someone to take on her case.
“There is really nothing in place for racial harassment from neighbor to neighbor or person to person. [Agencies said] ‘If he was your landlord, we could help you’ or ‘If he was your employer, we could help you,’” David said. “Which is unfortunate, because clearly this is something that happens person to person all the time every day.”
While David has found some respite in her Rootwork Herbals and local community, she said that her family had to “create the support” themselves, as she felt the legal system was not supporting them thoroughly.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of the law and how they’re enforced but it appears there is subjectivity in how the police respond,” David said. “I was calling for years before there was an officer who I felt really took the situation seriously.”
The Tompkins County website states, “In addition to its obligations under Title VI, Tompkins County is committed to equally serving all persons in all county programs or services without discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, national origin, alienage, disability, medical condition, military status, familial status, ex-offender status or any other characteristic protected by law.”
Onyx Ramírez, senior communications manager for the Black Farmers Fund, expressed her support for David.
“The fact that [David] as a landowner cannot be on her land is insane to us and not an isolated incident at all,” Ramírez said. “This is something that has happened to Black stewards and owners of Black businesses for centuries now.”
Due to David’s role as a community practitioner, David claims that this harassment has had effects not only on her family, but also on the local BIPOC community that she educates and supports.
“My children and I should be able to feel safe and secure in our own home, but we don’t. Mr. Whittaker’s persistent and horrendously racist and sexist intimidation and harassment has made that impossible,” David wrote in a press release obtained by The Sun. “His discriminatory behavior hasn’t just harmed my family, it has also harmed the entire community of BIPOC gardeners and herbal medicine practitioners that I work with.”
Whittaker thinks that the same freedom of speech that protects David protects him and his actions as well.
“You’ve got to speak your piece. I’ve always been one to try and defend myself and what I think and believe in,” Whittaker said.
David continued to describe the effects that this ongoing case has had on her and her family, as they currently seek relocation.
“There are already so many barriers to the fields of agriculture and horticulture for people of color,” David wrote. “It makes me both discouraged and deeply sad that Mr. Whittaker’s harassment is yet another obstacle that I and the community I’m part of have to confront in our efforts to engage in this work.”
Dorothy France-Miller is a reporter from the Cornell Daily Sun working on The Sun’s summer fellowship at The Ithaca Times. This piece was originally published in The Ithaca Times.