Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
Aldermen demand firings for fire slurs
After three embarrassing incidents in a month, Chicago aldermen said Tuesday they're fed up with having fire department radios used as megaphones to spew racial and ethnic hatred.
The latest over-the-air episode came Monday morning when a male voice on the department's mostly North Side frequency rattled off at least eight slurs maligning a wide range of ethnic groups.
Fire Commissioner James Joyce, at a news conference to denounce the incident, said investigators are using the radio ID number sent with the broadcast to zero in on t
e specific radio used. Interviews with firefighters with access to the radio have already begun, he said.
Joyce said he thinks the broadcast was a "prank" in retaliation for penalties he di
shed
out last week for
the first racist episode. Joyce suspended firefighter John Scheuneman for 90 days and slapped his supervisor, Thomas Gillespie, with a 30-day suspension for using racist language to denounce a black motorist Feb. 2.
The conversation was inadvertently broadcast over the radio.
"We know that we socked the individuals that were involved the first time," Joyce said. "This appears to me, just by listening and in the tone, that this is somebody thumbing their nose at the fire administration over the heavy discipline."
Aldermen on Tuesday demanded Joyce dismiss future offenders -- even if the firings are later reversed. They plan to discuss the epidemic at a meeting of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee on Wednesday.
"I
t's not a joke . . . It's not funny. It's got to stop," said Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th). "The Fire Department has to stand up -- not just the brass but the rank-and-file
-- a
nd say, '
;We're not tolerating this anymore. We're not gonna allow ourselves an
d our good work to be embarrassed by a couple of knuckleheads.'
"It's no different than when we used to advocate firing [bad] teachers. All of 'em used to get back on the job. But, you know what? Start firing 'em. People will improve. People will change their attitudes," O'Connor said.
Unlike the two prior incidents, the latest did not target African-Americans alone. At 10:50 a.m. Monday, a voice can be heard on a taped recording of a fire frequency saying: "Wetback, chink, gook, n-gger, cracker, pollock, wop, dago."
The broadcast came four days after an epithet was heard over the fire radio, the second documented incident. Fire officials believe it w
as inadvertent, but said interference on the fire radio "corrupted" the signals, making it impossible to identify the offender.
Ald. Ed Smith (28th) said he's so incense
d by the
slurs that he's
asked the Law Department to "find a way" to amend the personnel code to make it clear that racist comments on the job will be puni
shable by firing.
"We cannot afford to continuously allow people on the Fire Department or any other department with the city to make all of these negative statements about black people simply because they're black," he said.
Joyce said he was offended by the latest rant and apologized to anyone also offended. And he said "there is plenty in the union contract" to crack down on those caught."
***********
Good idea! Fire all the white firemen and let n-ggers put out Chicago fires. Have you ever watched a tribe of n-ggers put out a fire? I have, it is the funniest thing I've ever se
en in my entire life. When people get tired of n-gger firefighters letting their houses and businesses burn to the ground, they might have some sympathy for white people who refer t
o the fecal
colored critters as 'nig
gers'.
T.N.B.
After three embarrassing incidents in a month, Chicago aldermen said Tuesday they're fed up with having fire department radios used as megaphones to spew racial and ethnic hatred.
The latest over-the-air episode came Monday morning when a male voice on the department's mostly North Side frequency rattled off at least eight slurs maligning a wide range of ethnic groups.
Fire Commissioner James Joyce, at a news conference to denounce the incident, said investigators are using the radio ID number sent with the broadcast to zero in on t
e specific radio used. Interviews with firefighters with access to the radio have already begun, he said.
Joyce said he thinks the broadcast was a "prank" in retaliation for penalties he di
shed
out last week for
the first racist episode. Joyce suspended firefighter John Scheuneman for 90 days and slapped his supervisor, Thomas Gillespie, with a 30-day suspension for using racist language to denounce a black motorist Feb. 2.
The conversation was inadvertently broadcast over the radio.
"We know that we socked the individuals that were involved the first time," Joyce said. "This appears to me, just by listening and in the tone, that this is somebody thumbing their nose at the fire administration over the heavy discipline."
Aldermen on Tuesday demanded Joyce dismiss future offenders -- even if the firings are later reversed. They plan to discuss the epidemic at a meeting of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee on Wednesday.
"I
t's not a joke . . . It's not funny. It's got to stop," said Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th). "The Fire Department has to stand up -- not just the brass but the rank-and-file
-- a
nd say, '
;We're not tolerating this anymore. We're not gonna allow ourselves an
d our good work to be embarrassed by a couple of knuckleheads.'
"It's no different than when we used to advocate firing [bad] teachers. All of 'em used to get back on the job. But, you know what? Start firing 'em. People will improve. People will change their attitudes," O'Connor said.
Unlike the two prior incidents, the latest did not target African-Americans alone. At 10:50 a.m. Monday, a voice can be heard on a taped recording of a fire frequency saying: "Wetback, chink, gook, n-gger, cracker, pollock, wop, dago."
The broadcast came four days after an epithet was heard over the fire radio, the second documented incident. Fire officials believe it w
as inadvertent, but said interference on the fire radio "corrupted" the signals, making it impossible to identify the offender.
Ald. Ed Smith (28th) said he's so incense
d by the
slurs that he's
asked the Law Department to "find a way" to amend the personnel code to make it clear that racist comments on the job will be puni
shable by firing.
"We cannot afford to continuously allow people on the Fire Department or any other department with the city to make all of these negative statements about black people simply because they're black," he said.
Joyce said he was offended by the latest rant and apologized to anyone also offended. And he said "there is plenty in the union contract" to crack down on those caught."
***********
Good idea! Fire all the white firemen and let n-ggers put out Chicago fires. Have you ever watched a tribe of n-ggers put out a fire? I have, it is the funniest thing I've ever se
en in my entire life. When people get tired of n-gger firefighters letting their houses and businesses burn to the ground, they might have some sympathy for white people who refer t
o the fecal
colored critters as 'nig
gers'.
T.N.B.
