New York City firehouses are still hotbeds of racism and discrimination even after judicial orders and a settlement in a civil rights case reached in 2014, according to Regina Wilson, the president of the Vulcan Society, which represents Black firefighters.
In 1980, I had just one year on the job at the Los Angeles Fire Department. I walked into the locker room of the fire station I was working at and encountered a horrific scene: a fellow firefighter being held down on a pool table by several members of the crew. He was sexually assaulted by the group as a pair of LAFD captains were inside the building, unaware what was going on inside the locker room. When the attack was over, the firefighter responded with an attack of his own, pool balls flying around the room, hitting those who could not flee his rage fast enough.