"Cranston Fire Dept. Has 210 Firefighters, Not One of Color," Says NAACP
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"Cranston Fire Dept. Has 210 Firefighters, Not One of Color," Says NAACP
“Everybody heard that he didn’t want to lower the standards,” said Vincent of comments he said MacIntosh made at the Cranston Diversity Commission meeting in question, which were raised on Monday night. “The Cranston Fire Department has 210 firefighters and not one person of color — that’s persisted since I’ve been in Cranston."
“I said [at the diversity meeting] why don’t we look at Providence and Central Falls, or even Boston or Hartford, he said we’re not going to lower our standards like Providence,” said Vincent. “My head snapped back — that’s code language.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn Monday, the Cranston City Council reviewed the minutes of the Cranston Diversity Meeting — which supporters said showed that MacIntosh had not indicated that the Providence Fire Department has suffered since diversifying the department.
“The testified he was a racist during the meeting, so then they played the tape that proved he wasn’t,” Council member Ed Brady told GoLocal. “I think [MacIntosh] was saying years ago the standards were lowered for hiring.”
“There was a local group that tried to discredit the chief by blast emailing erroneous information that was proven to be false when the City produced a recording of the meeting in question and the truth prevailed. Despite the obvious personal issues with the fire department by a sitting Council member they voted 7-1 in favor to approve the Mayors Appointment,” Scott Robinson with the Cranston Firefighters IAFF Local 1363 posted to Facebook Monday evening.
“Sure, there’s no racial slurs — he wasn’t wearing a hood,” said Vincent of MacIntosh's remarks about lowering standards. “But I wouldn’t have been triggered if it hadn’t been something.”
“My concern is that whoever’s the next fire chief, look the city is 25% of color. This isn’t Burrillville. It is our obligation to make sure the fire department reflects the make-up of the city. None is unacceptable — I am cautiously pessimistic,” said Vincent.
Prior to the meeting the Cranston Action Network had taken issue what they said was “implicit” bias shown, sending out an eblast with the following.
At the most recent meeting of the Cranston Diversity Commission, while discussing successful models for diversifying Cranston’s Fire Department, MacIntosh said that he didn’t want the Cranston Fire Department to be “dumbed down like Providence.”
Whether this is explicit bias or implicit bias, it is expressing a bias against a hiring processes that prioritizes hiring of people of color and other minorities. An argument for preserving the status quo in a fire department where there are zero firefighters of color, serving a community which is comprised of at least 25% people of color, is reflective of an “old school” culture that wishes to diminish the abilities and intelligence of minorities, especially people of color.
Following Monday’s meeting, CAN member Melissa Jenkins said the following.
“It’s really alarming to me that out of 200 firefighters in Cranston, ZERO are members of a minority group and only 3 are women. The Diversity Commission was formed because of this problem, but their objections to this hiring were ignored. Why have a commission if you’re not going to follow their recommendations?”