Racism in the S.F. Fire Dept: Black firefighters fight for affirmative action

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FSP fights court harassment 4 SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 1988 "A fire department completely out of control with respect to its treatment of minority members."

This was how a federal judge branded the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) after a wave of racist attacks against Black firefighters came to light in recent months.

These attacks included:

• A fist fight between a white firefighter and a Black firefighter when the word "nigger" was used. The Black firefighter was injured, and the incident was subsequently covered up by the SFFD.

• The scratching out of a Black firefighter's face in a group photograph published in the firefighters Local 798 union newspaper.

• Discovery of a giant cardboard swastika in a station house where Black, Asian, and Jewish fire inspectors worked.

• Disclosure of a long history of harassment of Black firefighters which included "practical jokes," racist epithets, and physical threats.

These revelations generated so much political heat, the Fire Department chief was forced to resign.

Long history of racism In a city where minorities are the majority of the population, there are only 91 Black firefighters in a workforce of 1345. Furthermore, there are only 93 Latinos, 14 Filipinos, and 27 Asians in the department. Until recently, no women were hired.

Through court cases, the Black firefighters proved that a pattern of institutionalized racism in both hiring and promotion existed in the SFFD. A "white job trust" had been maintained by both the fire department and, unfortunately, by Local 798 of the firefighters union.

The leadership of the local consistently fought against affirmative-action hiring and promotion programs by filing friend-of-thecourt briefs to protect the city from civil suits.

Seeing no recourse, the Black firefighters formed their own union-the Black Firefighters Association (BFA)—in 1972. As Bob Demmons, president of the BFA says, "I wanted Local 798 to stop using my dues to fight affirmative-action programs. I believe in labor, but I also believe in people's civil rights and human rights."

The racist attacks in the fire department come as a result of suits filed by the BFA to throw out promotion tests for lieutenant and captain that automatically favored the white firefighters. Both the 1978 and 1984 The Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) has been fighting for five years to preserve its constitutional right to privacy. In the latest turn of this extended persecution of the party, three leaders have been sentenced to jail and their lawyer has been threatened by a receivership. This would put all the proceeds of her law practice in the hands of court-appointed officials.

Although the motion for receivership against lawyer Valerie Carlson has been denied by a Superior Court ruling, she is under sentence of imprisonment for refusing to disclose her assets. Also facing imprisonment are co-counsel Frederick Hyde and FSP National Chairperson Clara Fraser.

This case originated in 1984 when Richard Snedigar, a former member of FSP, sued for the return of $22,500 he freely donated for the purchase of a headquarters building. Although a building has been purchased with Snedigar's donation and other funds, he wants his tests were ruled unfair by the courts, and the fire department was ordered to promote 18 Black firefighters.

Black firefighters speak

The furor and controversy of all these revelations provided the backdrop to a Socialist Action forum on Feb. 5 at which BFA president Bob Demmons spoke.

Speaking for Socialist Action was Roland Sheppard, a member of Local 4 of the Painter's Union and an elected delegate to the San Francisco Central Labor Council.

Bob Demmons covered the history of racism in the fire department. "In 1955, the first Black was hired in a fire department with 1800 positions," he stated. Demmons told how this firefighter was harassed and ostracized by the white firefighters. "He had feces put into his boots, his firecoat soaked in oil, and the white firefighters refused to eat with him."

Demmons chronicled the slow pace of hiring for Blacks. "In 1967, the second and third Blacks were hired; in '68, the fourth— and the second Asian; in '72 the fifth. In 1974, the courts ordered the department to hire one minority for every white."

He stated his own experience when he was hired in 1974: "We were welcomed at the fire college with the statement from the captain that 'the courts got you here, but they won't get you through fire college."

Demmons told of the selective enforcement of rules against Black firefighters and the racist atmosphere in the station houses: "One station house had a money back.

In the course of pressing his claim, Snedigar demanded that minutes of internal FSP meetings be opened to court inspection. FSP refused, citing the illegal invasion of privacy. In response the court awarded the case to Snedigar by default. The judgment is for $42,139, far more than the $22,500 Snedigar donated.

In trying to collect on this judgment, Snedigar dragged Clara Kaye and her lawyers into court to dislose their assets. They refused on First Amendment grounds. All three were sentenced to jail for contempt. Sentence has been stayed pending appeal. Putting Carlson's law practice in receivership was another ploy to seize assets.

Since the judgment for Snedigar was based on an unconstitutional invasion of a political party's civil rights, the FSP is resisting at every stage. It is being supported by many unions and other organizations concerned with our civil rights. poster of a Black South African with his head blown off and a confederate flag hanging up."

He explained how the promotion tests were unfair because they contained so many repeat questions from previous tests-tests that white firefighters were familiar with after taking them so many times. In addition, points were added to the test score based on seniority—a situation exclusively to the advantage of the white firefighters.

In conclusion, Demmons asked the audience to support a consent decree filed by the BFA to enforce affirmative-action programs: "The Fire Department should mirror the racial and ethnic makeup of the city it serves. And I ask you to support us in raising the consciousness level of the brothers in Local 798."

Roland Sheppard geared his talk to lessons of history. "Karl Marx wrote," he said, "'Labor in a white skin cannot be free as long as labor in a Black skin is branded.' American labor had to learn this lesson the hard way. It was only in the 1930s that they learned they had to defend the interests of all workers, and the interests of Blacks."

Sheppard stated how the labor aristocracy in the building trades, firefighters, and other craft unions "fronted" for the employers by opposing the fight for affirmative action in the 1960s and '70s. "They became a transmission belt for the ideology of the employer to maintain the racism and, at the same time, maintain the exploitation of all workers."

All that this accomplished, Sheppard stated, was to isolate these unions from their natural allies in the community, making them vulnerable to attacks from the employer. "This was the main reason why the firefighters were defeated in their 1976 "The firefighters union should be in the forefront of defending all workers-and especially Black workers. A wage cut any place increases pressure for a wage cut everywhere."

Local 798 representative

During the forum's discussion period a pleasant surprise came when an executive board member of Local 798 spoke up. While trying to defend his union's opposition to the consent decree, the 798 firefighter denied that there was institutional racism in the SFFD. He said he was sure there were individuals who were racist, but insisted that everything else was nothing but allegations.

The ensuing discussion graphically illustrated the pitfalls of racism within the labor movement.

Demmons responded by saying: "There is Roland Sheppard oe Avan Socialist Actior Lt. Robert Demmons institutionalized racism in the fire department."

"That means you are calling me a racist!" responded the 798 representative.

"I'm calling the fire department racist," Demmons retorted. "But during the period of 1978 when Local 798 was fighting to keep minorities out of the fire department, the city-through the mayor-eliminated over 300 positions. Had all the minorities that tried to gain entry gotten into the fire department, they would have taken up only half of those 300 positions. The other 150 would have gone to white males."

Roland Sheppard also directed his response directly to the Local 798 spokesperson: "The brother [Demmons] said the fire department was racist-and the Local 798 brother says: 'You called me a racist!' He thinks the role of the union is to defend the fire department. The firefighters union has no interest in defending the racism of the fire department...

"Let the head of the fire department defend himself! Why should the union put itself in the position-—like you just did—of standing in front, when Brother Demmons was talking about the fire department behind you."

With an incredulous irony in his voice, Sheppard asked the 798 board member, "Do you realize what you just said?"

The 798 representative responded almost humbly: "I do-and I see your point."

Meanwhile, the city has been ordered to implement a consent decree that has a goal of making the fire department workforce 40 percent minority.

On the other hand, faced with a $150million budget deficit, the mayor's office has announced that there will be layoffs of city workers. Included among these will be firefighters. This only underscores what Sheppard said to the 798 member: "Fronting for the fire department's racism is suicidal with all these attacks going on."

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