It has been more than 22 years since the city’s storied fire department has been made to account for decades of racially discriminatory hiring practices, unabashedly aimed at keeping the number of Black and Latino firefighters to a minimum. Indeed, the fire department’s resistance to change has stood in stark contrast to efforts by the police department and other city agencies to boost recruitment of minorities and create diverse workforces that reflect the city they serve.
I remember days walking through my old Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn neighborhood, past firehouses where the firefighters – all of whom were white men – typically gathered outside. What they saw was a sea of Black and brown faces: homeowners, business owners, teachers, laborers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals all going about their lives. That image of white firemen, untethered for the most part to the community they worked in, sticks out. It raised a question that has vexed me ever since: Where were the Black firefighters?
In 2002, the Vulcan Society, a Black firefighters organization, filed a lawsuit against the City of New York alleging that the written exam used by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) to screen applicants was discriminatory. The case would be a turning point in the decades-long battle to desegregate the FDNY. The lawsuit led to a federal judgement against the city and a settlement of the claims.
Relief provided under the 2014 settlement of the lawsuit included: the creation of a new exam; the appointment of a special monitor to oversee recruitment and hiring; the awarding of $98 million to Black and Latino victims of discrimination; millions in back pay to thousands of Black and Latino firefighter applicants who were either not hired or hired years later; the creation of a Chief Diversity Officer; and other reforms.
Fast forward to the present. Today, the term “DEI” which stands for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” has become the latest dog whistle for forces in our society that want to turn back the clock on any progress made to level the playing field for people of color and address institutional racism. And with Mayor Adams this week announcing his choice to lead the FDNY, Robert Tucker, the question of diversity and the FDNY takes on new relevance.
Mr. Tucker is the CEO of a private security company. He has no government or public safety experience. A self-proclaimed “fire buff,” he will be taking over an agency with a long-time reputation as unwelcoming to minorities and women. The dissimilarity between him and the mayor’s first pick to lead the FDNY, Laura Kavanagh, could not be starker. Kavanagh was a trailblazer, tasked with bringing change to an institution known for its overt racism and sexism. On her watch, recruitment of minority and female firefighters increased.
With the mayor’s support, Commissioner Kavanagh brought a forward-thinking, reform-minded agenda to the department that not surprisingly ruffled some feathers among the keepers of the status quo. Still, the number of minority firefighters in our city does not come close to reflecting the city’s diverse population. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, minorities make up about 70 percent of the city’s population. By comparison, the city’s fire department is currently about 28 percent minority (10 percent Black, 16.5 percent Latino, 2.5 percent Asian and less than one percent Native American). Of the 11,000 city firefighters, 142 are women, or about 1.6 percent.
Kavanagh’s tenure leading the FDNY was short-lived. Citing the need to spend more time with family, she stepped down last week after just two years as commissioner. It’s apparent, however, that her detractors played a part in her early departure. Even so, the FDNY is more diverse as a result of her efforts. And that’s a good thing. Which begs the question: will the new fire commissioner embrace the progress that has been made to diversify the agency, or put the brakes on it?
For example, will the new commissioner be a vocal supporter of beefing up mentoring programs, establishing more recruiting stations in minority neighborhoods and overall expanding the pool of minority and women applicants? Will he be open to innovative methods to increase representation of minorities such as awarding extra points on the firefighter exam to applicants who are city residents? Or will he take his cues from the Uniformed Firefighters Officers Association, which is openly anti-diversity?
Being a city firefighter is a tough job. It takes a special form of courage, commitment and selflessness to be willing to go into harm’s way, and put your life on the line to save others. I have the utmost respect for the men and women who make this sacrifice. But for too long, a culture has existed within the FDNY that associated opening up opportunities for people of color (and women) to join and advance within the ranks of the fire department with lowering standards.
We’ll have to wait and see if the new commissioner is actually committed to rooting out racism and sexism at the FDNY. Or just talking about it.
David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.
This is one of the most racist articles I’ve read. You should be ashamed of yourself.