Confront Racism at UFA

Recently, both the Uniformed Firefighters Association and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association wrote letters attacking me for an article that appeared in The Post. Myself, many other blacks and anti-racist whites felt that the unions’ actions were racially motivated. Since past actions can often reveal motivations, let’s look at the unions’ (for the sake of brevity, mainly the UFA’s) history as a guide.

The UFA’s history of racist actions and attitudes is long and deep. In the 1940s, most FDNY firehouses were thoroughly segregated (like the rest of the country). In these houses, black firefighters were not allowed to use the same dishes, utensils or bunks as white firefighters. The UFA loudly and strongly resisted all efforts to change these practices, which persisted all the way into the 1960s. When the Vulcan Society decided to make this blatant racism end “by any means necessary,” this shameful, decades-long activity finally ended; in spite of the UFA, not because of it.