Elevate-The-Soul Online Radio (Rick Tingling-Clemmons Interview on Racism Included)
Friday, March 7, 2008
Flyer for March 28th Rally
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Flyer for March 28th 2008 Rally
The LaCore case - and other facts from The Spook Who Sits By the Door*
The following other allegations have surfaced:
On or about February 15th, 2008, 5 firefighter recruits were burned during a training session. Now, Deputy Fire Chief Alan Jeffries, who was in charge of that training, is preparing to be promoted to 3rd in command. Last year, a black applicant died during a training.
Additional allegations include concerns that a white Captain hasn't taken the physical in 6 years, receiving only a light suspension for this infraction (because they didn't want to demote Chief Anderson). Plus, he was assigned to the fire boat, but CAN NOT EVEN SWIM!!!
In the Special Operations Division, the numbers of Blacks assigned to this unit are conspicuously absent - that is hazmat (hazardous materials), fire boat and rescue squad. Firefighter Damien Green stole drugs to make methamphetamine June 29th, 2006 (assigned to the Giant in Silver Spring) and the Fire Department took absolutely NO ACTION! He is now assigned to Engine 24 at Georgia and Gallatin, NW.
Probationary Firefighter Mark Dunlap, assigned to Capitol Hill Station, Engine 3, was arrested for DUI and locked up, which is grounds for dismissal. Not only did the chief's report on the incident disappear, but Dunlap has never been disciplined.
And, we promised you other facts that our Mayor - if he were concerned about ending even the appearance of condoning racism in his Fire Department - would not be able to keep ignoring:
69 white members of the Dept haven't attended Annual Physicals for as long as nine (9) years. Battalion Chief Larry Anderson hasn't taken a physical in eight (8) years. Yet, other firefighters have been demoted or fired for failing to follow clinic procedures - while Chief Anderson got promoted. The 69 members are Chiefs, Captains, and Lieutenants.
95% of all new recruits are white, and only 2% are from DC. Current management has destroyed the cadet program that was a pathway for DC youth into the Fire Department.
Chief Rubin has ordered all Deputy and Battalion Fire Chiefs to take a basic EMT course, which they are not required to have, meaning 6 weeks off enjoying a class at taxpayers' expense, wasting federal funds in our names. The feds need to take a look at this waste. And so do we, District taxpayers, since the Fire Department is already over budget! Inqiring minds want to know: Who is accountable for these losses and mismanagement? Or, is this the real reason our property taxes are being raised, to cover the graft in the Fire Department? Hmmmmmm
Also, the Spook must correct an oops, that alleged firefighter implicated in the prostitution case on Minnesota was not transferred to Georgetown, as reported in our flyer, but to Chinatown.
More to come as E.R.A.S.E. continues to pursue good government ...
* The Spook Who Sat By the Door is taken from the title of a movie and book by Sam Greenlee, about whistleblowing.
Oh yeah, to add insult to injury...
We have a Caucasian who moved to one of the last corner houses in our neighborhood on the corner of 49th Street and Central Avenue, NE, and immediately got involved in the political life of the community (he's treasurer of a local Civic Association). Many of us wondered why, especially since he has been posturing, faking like he was a cop when he is just a "ride-along." We found out on Saturday the 15th, when he tried to walk his three dogs through E.R.A.S.E.'s rally against racism. The Spook and neighbors want to know, why would anyone want to disrupt, deter, detain such a rally - unless he has a hidden agenda? The Spook's neighbors were holding a rally against racism in the Fire Department in our neighborhood, and he wanted to interrupt the demo, draw attention to himself, and interfere with the flow of the rally, calling the police over to enforce his right to walk through the demonstrators stage, rather than any of the other 5 or more different routes he had available to him and his 3 dogs.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Rally is on Youtube
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.
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
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.
Bottom Line
Nothing Less
