[ad_1]
Nine New York firefighters have been suspended after sharing racist messages and memes about George Floyd’s murder.
All nine firefighters have been suspended without pay from the New York City Fire Department for days to months, The New York Times reported.
FDNY commissioner Daniel Niro told The Times that at least one of the firefighters would leave the department after the suspension was over.
The newspaper report detailed information from internal fire department messages and communications examined by The Times. The outlet reporters also spoke to more than 12 black firefighters, former and current, and those familiar with the situation.
Black firefighters who spoke with the outlet said they filed complaints after white colleagues shared racist messages and memes about Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was killed by the former officer Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020.
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. Meanwhile, Floyd begged the officer to remove his knee, telling Chavin he couldn’t breathe. Video of a viewer from the event went viral on social media and sparked a summer of nationwide protests in 2020 after his death.
Chauvin was then indicted and convicted of second degree murder, among other charges, earlier this year.
The Times reported that white firefighters were “celebrating” how law enforcement could “legally shoot black children.”
Other white firefighters have reportedly spoken of turning fire hoses on protesters who marched through the city streets after Floyd’s death. The tactics are reminiscent of those used during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
According to the report, firefighters suggested watering the protesters because “wild animals love water.”
Black firefighters would have seen these messages and filed a complaint with the service. Their colleagues were subsequently suspended without pay.
A black firefighter also told The Times that he overheard white colleagues calling George Floyd a “piece of crap.” Another black firefighter said a white civilian drinking with firefighters at the barracks after hours called him a racial insult.
The report also detailed a meme that an active black firefighter, who asked to remain anonymous, saw on his white colleague’s social media page. The image reportedly showed a white man’s head covered by a naked black woman with the caption “This man can’t breathe but you won’t see him on the news.”
A spokesperson for the fire department told The Times that the suspensions were severe punishments.
However, the black firefighters felt that this approach of the department was not sufficient, and does not address the culture in the fire stations of the city.
“At first you feel like you’re part of something,” Kareem Charles, who left the department almost a year ago, told The Times. “And then it sounds like some kind of lie. And you feel like they just need you for the numbers.
The Hill has contacted the FDNY for comment.
[ad_2]
Source link