By B. Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The city of St. Louis' black history celebration today turned into a debate between Alderman Irving Clay and Mayor Francis Slay over racial politics.
Clay, who emceed the annual event, accused Slay of unfairly firing black city workers and targeting Comptroller Darlene Green, who is also African-American. The Mayor then took the podium and said he was disappointed by the allegations, calling them "baseless."
Mayor Slay says the blacks that have been fired by their department heads were dismissed because of poor job performance.