Sustained!: Fire In The Firehouse

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Fire In The Firehouse

Someone scrawled sexual and racial slurs in the secure area of Fire Station 54 at Bush Intercontinental Airport which was directed at firefighter Paula Keyes on Tuesday of this week. Another firefighter in that same station, Jane Draycott, discovered that a photo of herself and her late daughter on her locker was mutilated, and the word “die” scrawled on her face and “dead” over that of her daughter, who was killed in an auto accident. Both women were the only female members of the station. The story has dominated the news here in Houston. Elected City Officials have been outraged by the treatment of these women. Their outrage is appropriately placed. Sexist and racist public servants are a danger to the public welfare and represent a public safety risk. But where was the outrage of elected officials when the cameras were not present?

Since this has been reported other people have come forward with stories of harassment. “It's starting to look systematic throughout the department,” said Joe Ahmed, the lawyer for Keyes and Draycott. “We feel like we've uncovered the tip of the iceberg. … I certainly don't believe all the firefighters are in on it, but it seems like nobody has been able to make it through the complaint system. No one would listen, until now.”

The City of Houston gets countless discrimination cases filed against it and vigorously defends all discrimination cases, even those with merit. The fact that there is sexual harassment among public servants in Houston is no secret. It was not even a secret to our elected officials. Last year, the City of Houston resolved a lawsuit in which former police Sgt. Michael L. Cox alleged that he was fired for backing the sexual harassment claims of a female motorcycle officer. The suit, filed in 2004, claimed Houston Police Department brass manipulated the investigation that led to his termination. The settlement of the case had to be approved by the City Council. There was evidence that the discrimination was systemic in that case that made it to the attention of the city council. But no one called for an investigation. Additionally, the city appealed the claim of Beth Kreuzer, the female officer who was being harassed in the case in which former Sgt Cox testified. A jury awarded a $600,000 verdict to Kreuzer in 2005. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals SUSTAINED! the decision and tacked on another $315,000 in attorneys' fees. That case was the third successful sexual harassment lawsuit won by Houston lawyers Katherine Butler and Margaret Harris on behalf of a female Houston Police Department officer. These cases did not receive much press. But they were all known to city officials who had to approve payments in those cases.

Discrimination has flourished in city systems and has been allowed to continue to grow because of the City’s attitude towards discrimination. To the City, “It is just something that happens.” No one is outraged by the suits or by the harassment... until a camera shows up. Moreover, little has been done to rectify gender disparity. 2.6 percent of the Fire Department’s members are female. Over 80 percent of the Fire Department’s members are white males. In a city as diverse as Houston, our civil servants should be reflective of our city’s population. Ironically, less than two weeks ago the United States Supreme Court overturned the Second Circuit's decision in Ricci v. Destefano and dealt a blow to an important tool to fight systemic discrimination. It was a 5 to 4 decision with Justice Kennedy writing the opinion for the majority. In the dissenting opinion, Justice Ginsburg criticized the majority for ignoring that "f]irefighting is a profession in which the legacy of racial discrimination casts an especially long shadow." Judge Sonia Sotomayor was on the Second Circuit panel which decided the case. And Republican congressmen are positioning themselves to question Judge Sotomayor about her reasoning in that case during confirmation hearings (they have subpoenaed parties from the case to testify). Perhaps Senator John Cornyn can get them to back off that stance with what is happening in Houston.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court's decision in Ricci may limit the City’s ability to attempt to correct race and gender disparities in the Fire Department which are systemic. Moreover, with such an atmosphere, the city may find it difficult to recruit minorities. The city must take quick and decisive action to extinguish the fire of discrimination in the fire department before it sets ablaze public confidence in the department. It must cease its policy of tolerating the intolerable. There must be zero tolerance for racism and sexism. We are paying civil servants, not the other way around. Our tax dollars demand nothing less.

4 comments:

AnonymousJul 20, 2009 10:25 AM
yes, amazing how the comments were posted in a secure area and yet there are no witnesses. no one saw a thing. i wonder if one or more of the ladies involved did the defacing as a way to get attention and more importantly, file a lawsuit and get some big bucks.
ReplyDelete
Doctormac in BRJul 21, 2009 11:05 PM
Of course there were witnesses, but after the firing of Sgt. Michael Cox, any witnesses were afraid to come forward. The suggestion that the women themsleves were the perpetrators is indicative of the deep seated sexism unveiled by these cases.
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AnonymousAug 5, 2009 06:16 PM
Beth Kreuzer is no stranger to sexual misconduct. She ruined my life by screwing my old man. She's a homewrecker and I seriously doubt she was a 'victim', more likely she played the Sgt, then played the system. If there is a hell, she'll be there.
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AnonymousMar 3, 2011 08:40 PM
I have to agree with the men that believe these women were out for money and attention. Im sorry yall because I am a woman and thats no place to be for anybody that belives in equality and fairness for men. I am a woman that has betrayed sisterhood, the sisterhood that says we will exspell men at all cost. The exilerated womans club knows no boundries and many will sedate, seduce, and even kill their own male children to have the victory above the men. Thats for all races of men with all races of children, they start on their male youth at very earliy ages. Please do not get me wrong because as a woman I believe in equality for women but since the womans lib movement it has become more about a competion then a civil rights act.
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