6 Miami firemen sacked for conduct unbecoming

[The Don]

Six Miami firefighters have been fired after an investigation found they hung a noose on a black colleague's family photo.

Photos of the firefighter's children and mother were also defaced with lewd doodles in the 9 September incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41847709

I suppose my first question is, was this directed at their colleague specifically because of some dispute or was it directed at black people in general ? There's no "good" answer to that question because even if that colleague really was a despicable individual, this seems to be a particularly cowardly and racist way to address it and if it's a more general thing then how can people like that function in as diverse a location as Miami ?


I suppose there will be some out there (and perhaps on this board) who will accuse the colleague of being far too easily "triggered" by some workplace banter and suggest that they need to toughen up a bit if they're going to thrive in the current day US. I take the opposite view, being fired is the least that these racist idiots deserve and if I were in a position to be able to influence decisions whether to prosecute, I'd be looking very carefully at whether this constitutes a credible threat.

It seems however that this was not an isolated incident....

In the nearby city of Pompano Beach, Florida, four firefighter recruits were dismissed in August following a similar incident, in which a noose was hung over the desk of a black recruit.

 

[TheGoldcountry]

Defacing someone's family is to me a very low, cowardly thing to do. I would have more respect for someone who punched me in the face; at least they had the stones to come to me directly.

 

[fuelair]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41847709

I suppose my first question is, was this directed at their colleague specifically because of some dispute or was it directed at black people in general ? There's no "good" answer to that question because even if that colleague really was a despicable individual, this seems to be a particularly cowardly and racist way to address it and if it's a more general thing then how can people like that function in as diverse a location as Miami ?


I suppose there will be some out there (and perhaps on this board) who will accuse the colleague of being far too easily "triggered" by some workplace banter and suggest that they need to toughen up a bit if they're going to thrive in the current day US. I take the opposite view, being fired is the least that these racist idiots deserve and if I were in a position to be able to influence decisions whether to prosecute, I'd be looking very carefully at whether this constitutes a credible threat.

It seems however that this was not an isolated incident....

Sounds like they have an ******* overload down there!!!!!

 

[Babbylonian]

I suppose my first question is, was this directed at their colleague specifically because of some dispute or was it directed at black people in general ? There's no "good" answer to that question because even if that colleague really was a despicable individual, this seems to be a particularly cowardly and racist way to address it and if it's a more general thing then how can people like that function in as diverse a location as Miami ?

Even if it the statement was specifically directed at the colleague and they claim to "have no problem with black people," it takes a pretty serious racist (and an angry one at that) to come up with that message in the first place.

As for how they can function in a diverse society, racists can function anywhere if they keep their racism to themselves and those closest to them.

 

[bruto]

I would be inclined at least to consider that the action was not specifically racist if it weren't for the noose. The only possible reason for that that is not racist is if the fire fighters in question were too dumb to tie their shoes in the morning, and should probably have been sacked anyway.

 

[Roboramma]

Defacing someone's family is to me a very low, cowardly thing to do. I would have more respect for someone who punched me in the face; at least they had the stones to come to me directly.

＋1

 

[Craig4]

Sounds like they have an ******* overload down there!!!!!

Meh, Florida.

 

[Apology]

I would be inclined at least to consider that the action was not specifically racist if it weren't for the noose.

I agree. The noose was definitely racist. As for defacing the picture, we'd have to see what they drew. If all they did was draw mustaches and Groucho Marx eyebrows on the family members, I would not categorize that as racist. Everyone can imagine their own ways that the picture might be defaced in a racist manner, I'm not up for providing examples on that score.

 

[jimbob]

I agree. The noose was definitely racist. As for defacing the picture, we'd have to see what they drew. If all they did was draw mustaches and Groucho Marx eyebrows on the family members, I would not categorize that as racist. Everyone can imagine their own ways that the picture might be defaced in a racist manner, I'm not up for providing examples on that score.

It's rather irrelevant though. If one anonymously bullies someone because of their race, then other anonymous bullying in the same place should be considered as part of that unless there is a very good reason to believe otherwise.

 

[Thermal]

I agree. The noose was definitely racist. As for defacing the picture, we'd have to see what they drew. If all they did was draw mustaches and Groucho Marx eyebrows on the family members, I would not categorize that as racist. Everyone can imagine their own ways that the picture might be defaced in a racist manner, I'm not up for providing examples on that score.

The article describes 'lewd', 'sexually explicit' and 'graphic and obscene phallic renderings' on the family photos.

 

[bruto]

It's rather irrelevant though. If one anonymously bullies someone because of their race, then other anonymous bullying in the same place should be considered as part of that unless there is a very good reason to believe otherwise.

I think the operative word in Apology's post was "all." If defacing photos was all they did, then one would have to judge whether the action was racist or just personal from the content of the defacing. The noose makes that almost certainly redundant. Thermal's following note confirms.

 

[cullennz]

Good riddance to the racist scum

The industry is obviously an extremely dangerous one at times and has a fairly big reliance on trust. Ie that everyone has each others backs

Personally that would be severely lacking in me if my colleagues were mucking around insinuating I should be hanged and messing with my family photos

 

[jimbob]

Good riddance to the racist scum

The industry is obviously an extremely dangerous one at times and has a fairly big reliance on trust. Ie that everyone has each others backs

Personally that would be severely lacking in me if my colleagues were mucking around insinuating I should be hanged and messing with my family photos

Well said.

 

[jimbob]

I think the operative word in Apology's post was "all." If defacing photos was all they did, then one would have to judge whether the action was racist or just personal from the content of the defacing. The noose makes that almost certainly redundant. Thermal's following note confirms.

We can ask for clarification from Apology, but in that case I'd have said

"we'd have had to have seen what they drew." As opposed to

"we'd have to see what they drew."

Which to me implies that they consider that there still is a question about whether the defacing of the photos was also racist.

 

[jimbob]

Rather than start a new thread, here is a lawsuit about GM

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/16/us/gm-toledo-racism-lawsuit/

Inside the GM plant where nooses and 'whites-only' signs hung

The company declined to be interviewed but provided a statement that it held mandatory meetings and closed the plant for a day to have training for every shift.
More about GM
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• What GM's Mary Barra learned early on: Speak up and stop saying sorry

"Every day, everyone at General Motors is expected to uphold a set of values that are integral to the fabric of our culture," GM said in the statement. "Discrimination and harassment are not acceptable and [are] in stark contrast to how we expect people to show up at work."
It continued: "We treat any reported incident with sensitivity and urgency, and are committed to providing an environment that is safe, open and inclusive. General Motors is taking this matter seriously and addressing it through the appropriate court process."
Boyd, Brooks and other black workers said initial meetings after the noose focused on violence, but not racial discrimination or intimidation.
GM, which declined to answer questions on the record after supplying the statement, placed an article about harassment in the employee magazine. The company replaced all ropes in the plant with yellow chains in an effort to stem the noose incidents.
But Boyd, Brooks and other black workers say that just removed an object, not the hatred.

Not just two men
It wasn't just Boyd and Brooks complaining. Another employee made a police report about the nooses and conversations about guns being brought to work. Others filed complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
The commission, which enforces state laws against discrimination, announced the findings of a nine-month investigation last March: GM did allow a racially hostile environment.
Darlene Sweeney-Newbern, the commission's director of regional operations, said racist behavior was so prevalent at Toledo Powertrain that she'd rank it among the worst cases her team has seen. Incidents continued while the commission was investigating, according to Sweeney-Newbern.
And she rejected GM's defense that it had taken appropriate action.
"GM did not deny that these things were taking place. They simply said, 'Hey as soon as we heard of these things we moved in and we took action.' That is not what we found in the investigation," she said.

And the killer line:

One example came from a former union president's testimony, Sweeney-Newbern said, that at a meeting to address the placing of nooses a white supervisor bemoaned that "too big of a deal" was being made.

That supervisor went on to say, "There was never a black person who was lynched that didn't deserve it."

 

[mgidm86]

That's ugly stuff.