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about

21 (2002) he/they white gay

blog is a mishmash of things. i rb politics sometimes (including anti-imperialism). i support all good-faith queer identity and hate radfems. friend of fujoshi. i don’t tag spoilers, non-sexual nudity, or dirty jokes. trying to tag undescribed posts with “no id.” be upfront with me! here to have fun : )

batmanego

we have to stop glorifying firefighters we simply have to many many Black firefighters have spoken out about how awful the racism is in the departments and painting firefighters as The Opposite To Cops, The Good Guys, is doing them no favors. look at this quote from an independent review of the london fire brigade

that article links a NINETY TWO PAGE DOCUMENT dedicated to documenting the bigoted abuses that members of the LFB have suffered. look at this quote from the new york times article linked above:

firefighters are distinct from police in that they are not law enforcement (the title that gives police a lot of the leeway they have), but they are still authority figures whose job culture is permeated by bigotry and acting like they’re perfect is dangerous for Black and brown firefighters, female firefighters, lgbt firefighters, AND for the people they’re saving that fall into those categories.

batmanego

the reason i point out their abuses extend to the public is not to belittle the experiences that these minority firefighters have by the way but to point out that firefighters are nearly every bit as willing to endanger civilian lives as cops. this is not an issue of “we have to make them get along with each other better” this is an issue of “they are putting their coworkers and the public at risk and at times actively threatening or harming them”.

batmanego

i think it’s very telling that a significant portion of the reblogs on this post are focusing on the misogyny (which is a huge issue, not saying it isnt) and not the antiblackness (and general racism, but especially antiblackness) that is the main point of this post. several other people have pointed out that firefighters are slower to respond to calls in Black neighborhoods and communities and when they do respond, it’s a subpar response. they also pointed out that it was firefighters turning the hoses on the civil rights protestors. again, i’m not saying that the misogyny isn’t present in these spaces, but we have to remember that the white (and nonblack in general) female firefighters are equally capable of enacting antiblack violence as their male counterparts.

3amsnow-deactivated20241128

[ID: the first quote is titled "what the review found", and says "the report painted a picture of poor behavior and painful experiences over many years. this made the report a difficult read for us and for the communities we serve.

it highlighted that women, black, asian, minority ethnic, LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse staff have experienced poor treatment and have done less well in their careers with us. issues were also identified with leadership, and with staff fearing to speak out about abuse. additionally, (highlighted:) the report included examples of behavior towards members of the public which were completely unacceptable."

and the second quote says "discrimination." in ohio, a volunteer firefighter announced on facebook that he'd rather save a dog than an african-american. beyond the obvious implications for citizens who might need help, this statement is representative of the kind of attitude many black firefighters confront at work each day."

end ID]