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Discrimination in Fire Department Experience

- The author, an African American firefighter, faced discrimination and lack of equal training opportunities when he first joined the fire department. He was told he could only work at one particular station and was not allowed to drive fire trucks or receive the same on-the-job training as white firefighters. - When testing for promotions, he was disadvantaged because he had not received the same training opportunities. He scored well on written tests but poorly on practical tests that covered skills he had been prohibited from developing. - Requests to discuss discrimination with supervisors were met with hostility rather than meaningful efforts to address the problems. Racially insensitive behavior, such as a captain dressing as a KKK member, went unpunished

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2 views3 pages

Discrimination in Fire Department Experience

- The author, an African American firefighter, faced discrimination and lack of equal training opportunities when he first joined the fire department. He was told he could only work at one particular station and was not allowed to drive fire trucks or receive the same on-the-job training as white firefighters. - When testing for promotions, he was disadvantaged because he had not received the same training opportunities. He scored well on written tests but poorly on practical tests that covered skills he had been prohibited from developing. - Requests to discuss discrimination with supervisors were met with hostility rather than meaningful efforts to address the problems. Racially insensitive behavior, such as a captain dressing as a KKK member, went unpunished

Uploaded by

Anonymous ZRsuuxNcC
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

.

OctDber 2, 1989

Captain-.z

Entered the Fire Dept


I was told from the very beginning that I wasn't able to drive or work
at any station other than Station #1. When I asked why I was told
because we have to have a black at every station and I was the one at
Station #1.
Station #1: No supervision
I was the firefighter on Engine #8 at Station #1. I wasn't trained
other than rookie school, all other training was O.J.T.(On the Job
Training). I would go on a call, come back to the station and evacuate
myself and plan on improving by reading a book on the subject. While
white firefighters were patted on the back for messing up. If I asked
questions, I was made to feel dumb so I didn't ask very many questions.
Second Driver
I was not allowed to drive or to become a second driver because the
white captains didn't want a black man driving for them. So this put me
as a disadvantage, when taking the lieutenant test. I scored well at the
written test. But on the practical test I was set up to fail. The test
was on the very trucks I wasn't allowed to drive.
Captain,...&
Lieutenant __
When the captain or lieutenant when on vacation the house captain
would bring someone from another station or someone junior on
another truck to drive my truck. When I asked why I was told I didn't
have enough time. When I pointed out that I was senior to some other
fire fighter it was explained to me that I didn't have enough training.
I

Chief
I tried to talk to the chief about what was happening so I went to
Station #5 to work overtime, I was put on the back of the fire truck.
The fire fighter driving that night was'-,
he had only been
a firefighter for two weeks. I had been in the fire department almost
3 years. That night we went to Pit Slip Marina where Lieutenant
___
had a talk with Chie~.
I asked the chief if I could
use his open door policy in the morning. The next morning the chief and
I rode over to Garden Street to watch the first stage of the San
Carlos Hotel get tore down. I told him about the situation and he got
mad. But instead of working on the problem he called a staff meeting
on me. So I didn't talk to him any more about that situation. The
Battalion Chief came to me and let me know that he wasn't pleased with
me._).
Testing
I took the test for Lieutenant in 1993, I scored 91 out of 109
questions on the written test. On the driver's test I went from the top
ten to 19th on the list. This was because the test is based on a driving
and pumping coarse that a person should be able to do well if the field
is level, but back firefighters don't get the same training as white
firefighters at the same level of experience. When I took the captains
test in 1998 I didn't study so I did poorly I scored in the 60's. The
next time the test was given in 2000. I was called 12:00 noon on the
day before the test because of a class I didn't have. I asked how I
could I take the test. The next month I took he class. The next time
the test was given I didn't take the test because of only one opening. I
found out all the white union members knew the deal was in the work
for 6 more jobs.

Training
I had put in paperwork for classes that I thought would help me along
in my career. Because they were taught by black firefighters, I
thought that I wasn't allowed to go. I had my name drawn from a hat
to go to the class and put back to let a white firefighter go.
KKK
I observed a white captain place a sheet over his head and act like he

was apart of the Ku Klux [Link] captain's name was Captain_

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