April/May
2004 Issue Number 58
Is
a monthly electronic newsletter which links current events and issues
to the daily challenges faced by fire and emergency services managers.
Current topics in the areas of leadership development, workplace diversity,
change management, and conflict resolution will be discussed.
We
hope that you find the information here useful and provocative.
Let us know what you think! If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter,
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Networking
Women in the Fire Service, the United Kingdom women firefighters'
association, is holding their annual conference June 11-13, 2004
at the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh. Email petra.barneveld@london-fire.gov.uk
for more information.
Women
Chief Officers Conference November 11-14, 2004, Wyndham Hotel,
San Diego. For more information, go to www.womenfireofficers.org
Fire-Rescue
International August 12-15, 2004, New Orleans, LA. For more
information, go to www.iafc.org
The
Reality of Racism
Chicago
has a new fire commissioner, Cortez Trotter, the first African-American
to lead the department. What should be an event to celebrate is marred
by the circumstances under which Mr. Trotter assumed this position;
in recent months, there have been a number of overtly racist actions
within the Chicago Fire Department.
First
there was the investigation of five racial slurs broadcast over the
department radio frequency. Then a department Internet chat room was
shut down because of racist postings. Finally, a black battalion chief
received a death threat in the mail; a fake news story that described
how a battalion chief had been found in a shallow grave with bullets
in his chest on June 19th. The date is significant as an annual day
of celebration among African-Americans to mark the end of slavery.
Many
people prefer to think of racism as something from the past, or as
aberrant behavior of a very few. The fact is that progress has been
made in race relations in the United States, but much is left to be
done. A recent nationwide Gallup poll reported that 55% of those contacted
believe that race relations today are either very or somewhat good.
Yet that poll also reported that 63% of respondents believe that race
relations will always be a problem in this country, a response that
was consistent regardless of whether the person answering the question
was white, black or Latino. In 1963, only 42% of those surveyed felt
similarly when asked the same question.
Perhaps
most telling is the gap between the experiences of whites and those
of other races regarding day to day activities. Whereas 76% of the
white respondents felt that blacks are treated very fairly or somewhat
fairly, 49% of blacks reported that they had experienced some form
of racial discrimination within the past 30 days.
This
disconnect is apparent within the Chicago Fire Department. The president
of the Chicago Firefighters Union, who is white, stated that talk
of racial tension had been exaggerated, and that such talk was creating
a "real misperception." Yet these recent events are not
unique in the history of the CFD, and black members also point to
the fact that African-American representation on the department has
actually decreased in recent years. Today on the CFD, blacks account
for 16 of 107 battalion chiefs, 26 of 182 captains, and 94 of 594
lieutenants.
Although
the Chicago Fire Department has been in the news lately, other fire
departments have similar stories to tell. Perhaps an effort has been
made to create more racial equity, but few fire departments truly
represent their communities when it comes to race and ethnicity, and
conflicts persist among different racial groups within fire departments.
The first step to resolving these conflicts is recognizing the reality
of the problem.
Sources:
ABC7Chicago.com, March 8, 2004
New York Times, April 2, 2004
Gallup Poll on Race Relations, published in AARP Magazine, May/June,
2004
