A leader of the Omnibus firefighters group said Tuesday that a consultant s report on the racial climate in the Winston-Salem Fire Department confirms the group s claim that racism and discrimination are happening in the department.
The report, delivered to the city s Public Safety Committee on Monday, said that the fire department as an organization is not racist. One of the study s authors said the Winston-Salem Fire Department was a progressive leader on race.
But the consultants also said the allegations of individual acts of racism were serious enough to warrant diversity training for fire employees. It actually substantiates the things we have been saying for the last seven months, said Thomas Penn, the lead spokesman for the Omnibus group, which formed last summer to protest what the group of current and former firefighters called ongoing racism in the department. These acts have occurred, there are racists in the department, and it creates a hostile work environment.