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Another Noose?
This morning I read about yet another noose being discovered in either the locker or the personal belongings of a black firefighter somewhere in this country. It seems this noose-making is an odd trend in the fire service, as this is probably the third time I've read a story like this in the past year.
Why is racism, particularly racism against African Americans, so common in the fire service? (Remember: First responders are held to a higher standard, so if you do something once, like leave a noose in someone's locker, and it's reported, people will remember it and judge you for it for a long time.)
I read another unrelated story yesterday in which a firefighter rescued a woman from her burning home. He was truly elated to have been her rescuer. The world needs this type of guy. Everyone needs a hero, and many people enter the fire service hoping to become a hero. But you can't call yourself a hero if you rescue people by day and sneak nooses into their lockers by night.
Are people trying to maintain the "old school" fire service (strictly white guys)? And if so, doesn't that make the fire service just an extension of the KKK?
Why is racism, particularly racism against African Americans, so common in the fire service? (Remember: First responders are held to a higher standard, so if you do something once, like leave a noose in someone's locker, and it's reported, people will remember it and judge you for it for a long time.)
I read another unrelated story yesterday in which a firefighter rescued a woman from her burning home. He was truly elated to have been her rescuer. The world needs this type of guy. Everyone needs a hero, and many people enter the fire service hoping to become a hero. But you can't call yourself a hero if you rescue people by day and sneak nooses into their lockers by night.
Are people trying to maintain the "old school" fire service (strictly white guys)? And if so, doesn't that make the fire service just an extension of the KKK?
Add a Comment
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Comment by Doug on December 16, 2009 at 10:24pm
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Cindy, please choose your words more carefully.
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Comment by Jack/dt on December 16, 2009 at 10:20pm
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Well come on, it's not exactly like she's an editor of a "real" magazine.
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Comment by Ben Waller on December 16, 2009 at 8:50pm
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Cindy, I'm an old-school white guy. I have been a firefighter for around 35 years, and I've been white a lot longer than that. Now let's cut to the chase. Your blog post is inaccurate, your comments are biased, unrealistic, and offensive, and you should be ashamed to call yourself an editor for a fire-rescue magazine.
There have been three or four noose incidents reported in firehouses. If racially motivated, they are reprehensible...except that at least one of those incidents turned out to not be racially motivated and another was questionable, as it was possibly manufactured by the "victim".
On the other hand, firefighters rescue and assist members of the public by the hundreds in the U.S. every day. The vast majority are not racists. Would it shock you to know that in some places, white male firefighters are actually a minority within their department? Would it shock you to find that the first firefighter to call you out about your post is female? It apparently should, given your appalling lack of understanding and your apparent ignorance of simple math.
That math is - one or two noose incidents per year for a couple of years. Total numbers of people of all races, sizes, shapes, colors, religions, creeds, genders, ethnic backgrounds, and sexual preference rescued and assisted every day - hundreds to thousands. That doesn't add up to the right to offensively use "fire department" in the same sentance with the initials of a race hate group.
Fire-rescue editors are supposed to be smarter and more insighful than that.
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