Editor’s note: This story contains reference to a racial slur. It is included in order to understand the incident.
A raccoon took over D. Tyrell McGirt’s office in October.
As part of last year’s “National Raccoon Appreciation Day,” the Asheville Parks and Recreation Department’s human-sized mascot was photographed sitting at the director’s desk, diligently checking his computer. He also soaked in the sunshine at Pack Square Park, pumped some iron and tried his paws at pickleball.
But Asheville residents will no longer be seeing the mascot’s fuzzy face around town, or on any promotional materials produced by the city. According to a May 8 email from McGirt to parks and rec employees, the raccoon “has been retired because this symbol is incompatible with an inclusive workplace.”
That decision, sparked by a departmental T-shirt that some employees found racially offensive, has led to larger conversations within Asheville’s government about staff culture. It’s also led to community criticism, particularly from conservative commenters, and the spread of online misinformation.
A “lack of awareness”
Senior city staffers first became aware of the offending items April 23. In an email to his employees that copied City Manager DK Wesley, City Attorney Brad Branham, Human Resources Director Emily Provance and other city leadership, McGirt referenced “shirts recently distributed within our department that feature the caption ‘make fun coontagious.’”
As McGirt, who is Black, explained in a subsequent email, “coon” has historically been used against Black people as a racial slur. “The word carries significant trauma and is widely recognized as derogatory,” he wrote.
McGirt also apologized for his “lack of awareness regarding the slogans used on our promotional materials and for the offensive nature of the current summer t-shirt design.” He promised to investigate how the shirts came about and ensure “a respectful and inclusive environment for everyone.”
When asked what that investigation revealed, McGirt told BPR that Parks and Recreation apparel had been “created and approved internally within the department’s marketing and communications area, lacking diverse perspectives or high-level oversight.” He declined to name specific employees responsible for the design or confirm if anyone had been disciplined for its distribution.
Meanwhile, McGirt instructed employees to return all of the offending shirts, along with any other items featuring raccoon imagery, so they could be shredded and destroyed. His directive also included shirts with the slogan “This land was made for you and me,” the refrain of the Woody Guthrie folk anthem “This Land Is Your Land.” Invoices provided by the city show that the total cost of destroyed materials did not exceed $7,940.
“This incident certainly identified a gap in our review process,” she said. “We responded immediately to that to address and move in a way that it’s more eyes on something before anything is printed.”
Dawa Hitch, Asheville’s communications and public engagement director, told BPR that a staff member had flagged that the second shirt “could be offensive to Indigenous people” and it was destroyed “in an abundance of caution.” (NPR has previously covered the cultural dialogue around Guthrie’s song, noting that some Native Americans find its lyrics to be colonialist.)
Although the details of the process remain under development, Hitch said that all marketing and public relations materials developed by Parks and Recreation will now be evaluated by her department prior to printing.
“This incident certainly identified a gap in our review process,” she said. “We responded immediately to that to address and move in a way that it’s more eyes on something before anything is printed.”
Making changes
Beyond changing the way it approves t-shirts, the city held a number of meetings with Parks and Recreation employees to discuss broader concerns.
According to a record of these meetings obtained by BPR, staff said the offensive shirts reflected deeper issues within the department. Employees claimed that the way supervisors communicate with Black staff was “disrespectful,” that the department faced a “cultural problem” with “misalignment between stated values and reality,” and that there was a real need for “clear policies, consistent enforcement, and defined consequences.”
In his May 8 email to staff, McGirt also noted that Black employees would be offered “a dedicated space to discuss the incident and its impact.” Asheville has recently faced legal challenges due to racially informed practices, such as appointment criteria for the Human Relations Commission of Asheville and the recommendations of its Community Reparations Commission.
Branham, the city attorney, confirmed that those meetings did take place, at the request of several Black employees who weren’t comfortable speaking in a larger group setting.
“The city believed the request for a follow-up meeting from some Black employees was reasonable, did not affend any relevant law, and would provide those individuals with a safe space to be full open with their opinions,” he wrote to BPR. “The same courtesy would be provided to any employee of the city without regard to race or other protected classification.”
Moving forward, the Parks and Recreation department plans to implement ongoing training sessions for all employees. “These will address cultural awareness, department culture, and the necessity of every employee feeling valued, heard, and included,” McGirt wrote May 8, noting that he was seeking an external facilitator for that work.
Online confusion
Although city officials didn’t issue an external statement about the T-shirt incident, it nevertheless broke into public awareness on May 11.
SKYline News, the Facebook account of community journalist and conservative influencer Chad Nesbitt, shared McGirt’s email. Nesbitt also included comments, purportedly from anonymous city employees, criticising the dedicated meetings for Black staffers and targeting of Guthrie lyrics. (Nesbitt did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.)
The news proceeded to go viral, with Nesbitt’s original post being shared nearly 230 times. A subsequent video, claiming that “CITY OF ASHEVILLE CALLS RACCOONS RACISTS - PRO AMERICAN LYRICS BANNED FROM T-SHIRTS,” racked up over 22,000 views. The right-wing Facebook group Asheville Real Politics, with over 9,000 followers, subsequently took up raccoon memes in AI-generated images meant to ridicule city government.
However, the SKYline News item soon received a “community note,” a Facebook feature that allows users to anonymously provide context on others’ posts. The note falsely claimed that McGirt’s email was a hoax and that “official city communications” had denied the details of the story. As support, it cites a city webpage addressing “misinformation circulating on social media.” Hitch confirmed that webpage never existed.
Both Hitch and McGirt said that, to their knowledge, no one with either of their departments had shared false information with Facebook. Yet when BPR shared this information with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, a spokesperson said the community note would remain attached to the post.
Responding on background, the spokesperson explained that other Facebook contributors, not Meta employees, determine if a note is helpful. The company only removes notes that violate its community standards, which generally permit misinformation outside of election or health-related topics. In the future, the spokesperson said, users whose posts have received inaccurate notes may be allowed to request additional community review.
“The city of Asheville acknowledges that this was offensive and does not align with our values,” Hitch said.
Regardless of what’s presented on social media, said Hitch, the city’s real position on the T-shirt incident is clear.
“The city of Asheville acknowledges that this was offensive and does not align with our values,” Hitch said. “We are committed to supporting all of our staff with resources based on what they need, to the extent that we can, and we are committed to growing and improving.”
