Allegations of Racism in DC Fire Department: May 1st Rally

Elevate-The-Soul Online Radio (Rick Tingling-Clemmons Interview on Racism Included)

Allegations of Racism in DC Fire Department-An Update

Allegations of Racism in DC Fire Department-Feb Part1

Allegations of Racism in DC Fire Department-Feb - Part 2

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

THe previous Post was Responded to like this

I hope you are well

I have had a chance to look at the attachments the message in detail and as stated here are my thoughts / observations / suggestions:

1. Compared to the UK your willingness to engage a citizen as a communications officer is a stark yet welcome difference. It would unlikely that I would be given the same consideration and ‘personal touch’ and for that I am grateful.

2. I don’t doubt the dedication to equity and diversity of the department – although it is unclear whether the approach includes direct education aimed at eradicating discrimination. However I feel this message has not got through to some of your colleagues given my observations of the department and the behaviour of some fire-fighters e.g. the Engine 30 incident.

3. I understand your position as far as privacy and legality when it comes to personnel issues. That is precisely why I was shocked at the FOX5 statement that DCFD suggested this could be ‘disgruntled employees’. As previously stated FOX5 either misrepresented DCFD, or the dedication to fairness and the respect for and obligations to the employee(s) is in question in this instance. Which is why I made the statement about ‘as fair as possible’ it was not pedantry (although I am not suggesting that is your position).

4. I am glad to hear progress has been made under Chief Rubin’s tenure but again I would suggest that despite the reputation of the Equity and Diversity program and the organization that produced it, it – like other programs in this regard – has seemed to have fallen short of the mark (assuming Engine 30 staff participated). To illustrate, the second paragraph of the pledge you attached it is entirely at odds with the ‘Buck Stops Here’ incident. Furthermore, it may be seen as a backlash to it and the training, bottom line: the training did not fill those fire-fighters with the tools to properly engage and discuss the issues and did not convince them to want to change.

5. In fact the pledge has to be backed up with tools to achieve its aims i.e. with support and education to achieve this. We cannot act like we can just turn off racism and other forms of prejudice like a tap. The issues run much deeper. I am aware of citizens and professionals who would be happy to engage on this matter. There may be even some in the DCFD but these issues promote a climate of fear i.e. “if I come forward and tell you my truth are my colleagues adult enough and professional enough not to alienate and exclude me?”

6. I think there are wider issues within the context of equity and diversity practice that do not aid the situation, for example, the language. We seem to want to bring about tolerance not respect. I again appreciate the ambiguity of language but if we mean respect say respect. Tolerate has other meanings like ‘allow’, ‘endure’, ‘put up with’. I tolerate my neighbours’ taste in music or the smell of public bathrooms. I respect my fellow citizens, not because I respect diversity but because I just plain respect them.

7. This issue of respecting diversity instead of tolerating it is really about the fact that by being tolerant I can be 100% diversity aware and compliant and still be 100% bigoted (I still dislike them and negative views about them, I just don’t act like that – a bit like politicians do with journalists huh! - that is I simply learn to adapt my behaviour. To bring about real change the context needs to be brought forward to the 21st century where tackling prejudice and discrimination are the solutions. Equity and diversity, whilst honourable and well-intentioned - in the past decade, particularly around race - have not solved the problems they intend to, at least the evidence points in that direction.

8. In terms of the structure, one observation / question of mine is how does the role of Diversity Management Officer rank against a Battalion Fire Chief, or Assistant / Deputy Fire Chief? Equal, higher, lower? I am interested as this can often mean that the amount of influence, power, budget and outcomes (or lack of the aforementioned) are determined / maintained by structure. In many other organisations the diversity chief is not ‘as big a chief as other chiefs’. This also applies to the support within that division of the department i.e. I note that there is one other officer holding the rank of Sergeant.

In conclusion DCFD is not alone in its experiences, how it reacts and progresses are the important parts. However, this is no consolation to those who have experienced and are experiencing this situation, and this lack of trust and belief in the department can only be exacerbated if people are made to feel like they are the problem i.e. disgruntled employees.

Thank you again for the materials I do understand your direction better. I am happy to assist in the future and will keep a keen eye on developments. Once again thank you for your courteous reply, and hope you understand that I write with the intention of contributing to improvement and change not just to vent. I am happy to assist with suggestions for practical action(s) in tackling prejudice and discrimination and am happy to further my dialogue with the DCFD in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

New Developments

Thank you for your attention and obvious passion on this issue.

We, too, are very passionate about and dedicated to complete fairness and equity within this department. I appreciate your reference to the Fox 5 article. I hope you understand the position any government agency or private employer might be in when confronted with personnel issues. They are very private in their nature, and we have an obligation to the employee to keep that information private. It is also a legal obligation. To the extent I am ever able to offer specific information about anything, because the public deserves to know, I do. I can see you are someone who places value on each and every word, as am I. In retrospect, I should have left ‘as possible’ off my statement. The context of that discussion had to do with timeliness of information. We occasionally find that not all information is immediately available to investigators, for whatever reason. ‘As possible’ refers to investigators – in the Fire Department – and any other investigating body – doing the best they can with what they have at the time. That context was not conveyed.

Since Chief Dennis Rubin arrived in April, 2007, this department has undergone a catharsis. In the Fall of last year, each member of our department was instructed by the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute’s Equity and Diversity program. This program, produced by one of the most respected fire and rescue organizations in the world, covered issues such as gender and race tolerance, sexual orientation, teamwork and personal and organizational responsibility and accountability. Every person in this agency has taken this course, and it has been a true benefit. This year, Chief Rubin is directing the Department to engage the International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics Institute for an even more in-depth level of instruction on these issues.

We take each complaint of discrimination seriously, and we investigate it fully. Furthermore, the DC Government is interested in fairness and equity in the workplace. We always engage the Metropolitan Police Department and the Inspector General, if necessary, to provide a third party examination of any issue. If any misconduct is found, this department takes swift and appropriate action.

I have attached some materials which may help you understand our direction better. A power point presentation shows our organizational structure in the areas of your concern. A suitability guideline is also attached, which shows you the criteria used when selecting new employees and the standards to which the agency holds it employees. And finally, a personal pledge is attached, which demonstrates the level of personal commitment each of us takes in this job.

I hope this helps you understand our position. If I can provide any assistance at all, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Sincerely,

Alan

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?
Mao Zedong, May 1963

Scanned from Four Essays on Philosophy. 1968 Foreign Languages Press Edition. Please report errors to mim@mim.org.

Where do correct ideas come from? Do they drop from the skies? No. Are they innate in the mind? No. They come from social practice, and from it alone; they come from three kinds of social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle and scientific experiment. It is man's social being that determines his thinking. Once the correct ideas characteristic of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force which changes society and changes the world. In their social practice, men engage n various kinds of struggle and gain rich experience, both from their successes and from their failures. Countless phenomena of the objective external world are reflected in a man's brain through his five sense organs-the organs of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. At first, knowledge is perceptual. The leap to conceptual knowledge, i.e., to ideas occurs when sufficient perceptual knowledge is accumulated. This is one process in cognition. It is the first stage in the whole process of cognition, the stage leading from objective matter to subjective consciousness, from existence to ideas. Whether or not one's consciousness or ideas (including theories, policies, plans or measures) do correctly reflect the laws of the objective external world is not yet proved at this stage, in which it is not yet possible to ascertain whether they are correct or not. Then comes the second stage in the process of cognition, the stage leading from consciousness back to matter, from ideas back to existence, in which the knowledge gained in the first stage is applied in social practice to ascertain whether the theories, policies, plans or measures meet with the anticipated success. Generally speaking, those that succeed are correct and those that fail are incorrect, and this is especially true of man's struggle with nature. In social struggle, the forces representing the advanced class sometimes suffer defeat not because their ideas are incorrect but because, in the balance of forces engaged in struggle, they are not as powerful for the time being as the forces of reaction, they are therefore temporarily defeated, but they are bound to triumph sooner or later. Man's knowledge makes another leap through the test of practice. This leap is more important than the previous one. For it is this leap alone that can prove the correctness or incorrectness of the first leap, i.e., of the ideas, theories, policies, plans or measures formulated in the course of reflecting the objective external world. There is no other way of testing truth. Furthermore, the one and only purpose of the proletariat in knowing the world is to change it. Often, a correct idea can be arrived at only after many repetitions of the process leading from matter to consciousness and then back to matter, that is, leading from practice to knowledge and then back to practice. Such is the Marxist theory of knowledge, the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge. Among our comrades there are many who do not yet understand this theory of knowledge. When asked the source of their ideas, opinions, policies, methods, plans and conclusions, eloquent speeches and long articles, they consider the question strange and cannot answer it. Nor do they comprehend that matter can be transformed into consciousness and consciousness into matter, although such leaps are phenomena of everyday life. It is therefore necessary to educate our comrades in the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge, so that they can orientate their thinking correctly, become good at investigation and study and at summing up experience, overcome difficulties, commit fewer mistakes, do their work better, and struggle hard so as to build China into a great and powerful socialist country and help the broad masses of the oppressed and exploited through out the world in fulfillment of our great internationalist duty.

This passage is from the "Draft Decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on Certain Problems in Our Present Rural Work", which was drawn up under the direction of Comrade Mao Tse-tung. The passage was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Dear Friends

This email from Erase Racism and those against Homophobic behavior is calling for the support of all of who read this flyer and identify with this concern and scourge on our city. We ask that each of you do what’s in your conscious to make this city whole again. As Americans, we cannot exist as a nation of human beings striving to make our city a better place by allowing this kind of disease (Racism and homophobia) to spread and become a pandemic. Like AIDS we all need to know our status and live in a responsible way, and make sure that it does not spread. We all know what Rodgers and Hammerstein meant in the song "You've Got to be Taught", in reference to racism. The Fire Department is too important in the fabric of a civilized world to be poisoned with racism. We invite you all to participate, by speaking at our rally, by creating and passing legislation that will stop this problem and by helping us to remove those persons who are so diseased that they should be isolated and treated. We understand that it is curable but will not be tolerated.

Please post, Pray and pass this information on.

E.R.A.S.E. (End Racism and Stop Exploitation)

Tavis Smiley wrote in response to our most recent plea

"Thanks for your e-mail. We appreciate your taking the time to write the
"Tavis Smiley" show. Your message is important to us and your e-mail will
be read and your comments considered by our staff.

Thanks again for writing to us,

Sincerely,
Tavis"

Rally on Saturday 2/16/08

Celebrate Black History Month!
Support Our Local Firefighters!!!

Where: Engine Company #30
49th & Central Ave, NE

When: Saturday, February 16th 2008
Time: 10:00 – 12:00 noon

WHY?

Our brave firefighters who put their lives on the line every day are being subjected to racist, sexist and homophobic attacks, led by officers fostering a hostile work environment and disrespecting our community.
Jim Crow must be erased from the White House to the Fire Department headquarters!
DC Fire Department is facing a crisis of leadership, where racist, sexist and homophobic statements are not only tolerated but promoted by the leadership of Engine 30, fostering actions that negatively affect morale, such as:
· A Black lieutenant who is being reprimanded for stopping to fight a life-threatening fire that made him late for a training session;
· a hit list of Black officers with leadership abilities and skills being circulated in the department;
· White firefighters on ambulances who don’t want to touch infirm black residents;
· Firefighters who use excessive force when fighting fires in our neighborhoods causing great damage to our homes;Keeping white officers who display openly racist, sexist, homophobic and generally abusive attitudes and behaviors that endanger firefighters under their command, like Lt. R. Lehan; Firefighters who are under medical treatment for severe stress and depression resulting from abuse on the job;

We want racist officers in Firehouse 30 to resign their posts immediately and to leave our neighborhood!
Our firefighters are bearing the weight, but their fight is OUR fight!!!
Friends, Neighbors, you can helpby:
· Checking out our blog at Abolishracism.blogspot.com
· Joining E.R.A.S.E. – End Racism And Stop Exploitation committee.;
The committee, E.R.A.S.E. is a community-based organization of taxpayers, clergy and members of the middle and working class whose understanding of the historical facts around racism and its effects on our community has forced the group to come together to do what it can to minimize or neutrallize the effects of racism on our community. We understand the economic, social and political implications of ideas that will demonize non-white people to favor a white supremacist nation. In its name, E.R.A.S.E. embodies our identification of the cause for racism to exist, and that is to exploit its victim and create an atmosphere whereby people of white descent can maintain a social, political and economic advantage or upper-hand over those who are not defined as white. It is understood that these ideas of racism which are based on ignorance and anti-social deviant behavior are represented by a very small group of Europeans. Therefore, we call on ALL people to ERASE this scourge from its institutionally based support system in order to make this country whole and just!!

Call the councilmembers below and demand they look into this situation!! Mayor Fenty has said his hands are tied by the process and chain of command! We must let him know that our justice cannot wait, they will be heard!
Chairman Vincent Gray, 724-8032
At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, 724-8174
At-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, 724-8064
Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander 724-8068
Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry, 724-8076
Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, 724-8076
ANC7D05 Commissioner Rick Tingling-Clemmons, 397.2277
Help E.R.A.S.E. Break the Jaws of Racism!

For more information or to help:
erase-racism@hotmail.com

Friday, February 8, 2008

THE BUCK STOPS HERE

Da Heights Zoo

The picture above is a deer head sporting a DCFD cap, an earring, a blunt in its mouth, and a huge metallic dollar-sign necklace that is bolted into the wall of our local firehouse, Engine 30, at 49 and Central Avenue, NE, in a most obscene reminder of the racist atmosphere that our brothers and sisters, African- American firefighters, must endure each day when they go to work. When members of the public come into the firehouse, the “decorations” are removed but replaced once the visitors are gone.
The deer head was bolted to the wall and “decorated”, as part of a pattern of intimidation and exploitation that has included: sex scandals; black firefighters being attacked, hit by plates thrown at their heads by officers, with injuries serious enough to send them to the hospital; firefighters who refused to cooperate with covering-up the attacks are now threatened with termination; subjected to random drug screening with tampered results; medical discrimination; and being victimized by officers violating their own established rules and guidelines.
This atmosphere was created by our former and present Mayors, who could not recognize competence in a black face; who ignored the history and present atmosphere that exists in this country, who ignorantly relaxed their vigilance and abdicated their responsibility to protect us, the citizens, from well-established dangers of racism, discrimination and white privilege. Most, if not all, of our major agencies are run by people who are not African-American.

For more information: erase-racism@hotmail.com

Mayor Fenty has abandoned our black firefighters and left them vulnerable, going into dangerous situations.

This is NOT an indictment of white people – it is only an indictment of racists, who have ignorance as the only basis for their existence.

This tiny bunch of rotten eggs is a scourge on good people who look like them. They have corrupted and poisoned the cadet system that enabled our ambitious local men and women to gain entry into the fire department, in favor of.recruits who are their relatives and other whites from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

The community wants to know WHY did Sgt. R. Lehan (white) and Battalion Fire Chief McClafferty (white) try to cover up (white) Lt. Crowe’s unprovoked attack on firefighters Brown (black) and Ashelford (white) by hitting them in the head with plates?? WHY is Sgt. R. Lehan being allowed to keep working and fomenting a hostile work environment while suspending and putting black firefighters on administrative leave for false infractions? WHY have they not been disciplined and removed from their positions to continue to abuse their authority by trying to terminate witnesses? WHAT ever happened in the case of the alleged prostitution ring at Engine 27? WHY is Sgt. R. Lehan being allowed to retaliate and harass our brave black firefighters, stress them out without recourse? WHY do our black firefighters have to put up with racist jokes at work like “What was missing from the Million Man March? An auctioneer!” Our brothers and sisters don’t deserve being subjected to obscene language and verbal abuse from their white officers. WHY haven’t our city officials responded to help those who put their lives on the line for us each day at work?

We remember Emmett Till!! In the name of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medger Evers, JFK, and John Brown, we call on all righteous-thinking citizens, BLACK AND WHITE, to stand with us!!!

Our community deserves better!! Our city demands more!! We demand respect for our black brother and sister firefighters!

The E.R.A.S.E. (End Racism And Stop Exploitation) Committee

If this situation outrages you, contact Councilmember Mendelson, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, 724-8064 and demand justice for our firefighters! Call and write Fire Chief Rubin (Dennis.Rubin@dc.gov) 673.2221 – demand a real investigation and freedom from racism for ALL our DC firefighters!!

Bottom Line

Bottom Line
Nothing Less