Former city fire commissioner blasts FDNY for culture of racism, homophobia ahead of testifying at civil trial
I have been researching and thinking over the hiring policies/problems of the FDNY for a while now, and decided the whole matter deserves an airing.
This whole issue is not a simple matter. In a city that no longer has a white majority, something like 89% of the firefighters ARE white, and many coming in from outside the City.
There are several unanswered questions here about the whole idea of "legacy hiring" ( it is well known that a hell of a lot of firefighters come from families that have firefighters in them already) and then some of the really awful racist remarks made by none other than the EMT son of Commissioner Cassano and other such tweets and Facebook postings that have really added fuel to the fire.
If this weren't enough, there is an (of course) mostly white group called "Merit Matters" that is opposed to any kind of quota system or "affirmative action" program that they think results in a "dumbing down" on the hiring process.
To top this off, the normally leftist Village Voice ran an article about the whole clash going on right now which further muddied the waters..
The latest class at the Fire Academy has been the most diverse yet, but it will take an awfully long time before many people are convinced that there is not institutionalized racism within the FDNY.
Thomas Von Essen, who served as FDNY commissioner under Rudy Giuliani from 1996 to the end of 2001, revealed the racism, 'gay-bashing, anti-Semitism and sexism' within the department to an audience in Stamford, Conn.
By Thomas Tracy / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, March 14, 2014, 5:21 AM
LOUIS LANZANO/AP
Former FDNY Commissioner Thomas Von Essen (left, in Oct. 2001) served for more than 5 years under Rudy Giuliani.
The bravest got a scathing rebuke — accused of everything from racism
to anti-Semitism — from a man who used to be one of its own.
Thomas Von Essen, the city’s former fire commissioner, told a rapt audience in February that firefighters were mired in a “culture of incivility.”
Post a Comment » Thomas Von Essen, the city’s former fire commissioner, told a rapt audience in February that firefighters were mired in a “culture of incivility.”
All manner of slurs were routinely tossed about inside neighborhood
firehouses, said Von Essen, who served 51/2 years under Rudy Giuliani.
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Members of the Vulcan Society, representing black firefighters, show their support for changes in testing that they said favored white applicants outside Federal Court in Brooklyn.
“The talk routinely gets rough and the biases and intolerances come
out,” he told about two dozen guests during a recent speaking engagement
at the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Conn. “It is often aimed at anyone
with a darker skin, although gay-bashing, anti-Semitism and sexism get
air time, too.”
The shocking admission, based on his experiences with the FDNY from
more than 15 years ago, comes as the 68-year-old Von Essen is expected
to testify at a civil trial to determine whether the city intentionally
discriminated against minority FDNY applicants.
Simmons, Howard
'The talk routinely gets rough and the biases and intolerances come out.'
Von Essen also said the NYPD is far more tolerant of gays and people of color.
“While the New York Police Department is far from perfect on this
score, it is a lot better than the New York Fire Department,” he said
during the Feb. 25 speech, part of Sacred Heart University’s “Civility
in America” series.
Maisel, Todd
Von Essen hopes that the culture within the FDNY has changed, but isn't confident that it has.
“A big part of the reason is that the NYPD has far more women and
minorities and people of different religions than the FDNY which, until
the most recent class of firefighters graduated, was 90% white and
mostly Catholic.”
The FDNY’s ranks are now 86% white, 9% Hispanic and 5% black, according
to the department’s latest figures. The NYPD is 52% white, 27% Hispanic
and 16% black.
Von Essen was fire commissioner during the 9/11 attacks, where 343
firefighters were killed. He left the FDNY at the end of 2001.
An FDNY spokesman said Von Essen was talking about a department that existed “decades ago.” But Von Essen stuck by his guns.
“I don’t regret anything I said,” Von Essen said Thursday. “I hope it’s
better today that it was years ago, but I’m not so sure.”
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