Extinguish the Flames of Prejudice : Hiring: It’s not discrimination for the Los Angeles Fire Department to act to reflect the population it serves.

What do you want to be when you grow up? “A firefighter.” This is one of the most common answers a child will give. These firefighters--men and women--perform a vital public-safety function and inspire respect for the best in each of us.

But the dream of becoming a high-ranking firefighter has unfortunately been an unrealistic one for people of color and women.

Several years ago, I witnessed an agonizing scene at Irv’s Barber Shop, located on Martin Luther King Boulevard near Arlington Avenue. There was a regular customer, a 55-year-old father of a young man who had been recently rejected by the city Fire Department. His disappointment could be felt throughout the barber shop. He went on to describe what a choice job firefighters held and how they were “reserved” for a protected class of white males who knew the rules of the game and had unwritten advantages by virtue of race and tradition. I listened to the commonly shared outbursts of anger and defeat and thought: Something has got to give.

A few years later, I met with the United Firefighters’ political-action committee, seeking an endorsement of my candidacy for the office that I now hold. While the usual bread-and-butter issues were discussed, I detected discomfort with certain work-force equity issues. I distinctly recall reluctance on the matter of racial parity and affirmative action. For them, the status quo was just fine. It was clear to me then that this issue would have to be revisited. What I did not know was that it would be sooner rather than later and that it would be the Police Department rather than the Fire Department.

Two lawsuits had been filed against the LAPD--Hunter vs. City of Los Angeles and Latin American Law Enforcement Assn. vs. City of Los Angeles--for proved practices of racial discrimination. This litigation led to a court-mandated affirmative-action program under which the LAPD currently operates. Ultimately, the City Council had to settle with the plaintiffs. More taxpayers’ money spent, not for public safety, but for institutionally enshrined misdeeds of the LAPD.

The issues involved in the Police Department cases closely parallel those of the Fire Department, namely, the inequity within the department’s promotion structure. The Fire Department must realize that it is similarly situated and therefore vulnerable to the same kind of expensive litigation, court mandates and costly settlements.

The Fire Department has been probed and prodded before. Twenty years ago, thecity entered into a federally approved consent decree designed to increase the ethnic representation of the city’s firefighters. However, the consent decree only required that the new hires be representative of the city’s work force, thereby leaving promotional and supervisorial positions unattended.

The LAFD’s performance of the past 20 years is revealing: In 1970, the city’s minority population was 37% and the Fire Department had about 6% minority representation. By 1990, the minorities had become the majority, reaching 63% of the city’s population. Today, the Fire Department’s representation of people of color stands at 37% of firefighters, 22% of captains, 12% of chiefs. While whites constitute 37% of the city’s population, they hold more than 60% of the firefighter positions, more than 70% of the captains’ positions and almost 90% of the chiefs’ positions.

In light of this data, it seems odd that white males think that they are justified in their spurious claim of reverse discrimination during the last firefighter exam. The consent decree requires that 50% of all new hires be people of color. Curiously, the consent decree is silent on how this goal is to be achieved. It was the Fire Department that determined it would restrict testing for whites in order to comply with the consent decree. This decision was compounded by the fact that the exam had not been given in four years.

In view of what we now know, LAFD hiring and promotion practices need to be changed. Last week the City Council approved a motion that I introduced directing the Personnel Department to review existing personnel practices at all levels--entry, supervisorial and promotional--and report back with recommendations. The council sees this review as a prudent attempt to avoid costly litigation and embarrassment. As the most ethnically diverse city in the world, we should not resist having the city’s work force reflect the population it serves.

The Fire Department has displayed extraordinary valor during the past two years: civil disturbances, fires, floods and the earthquake. Valor is inherent in the culture of firefighters. They must now be challenged to demonstrate their valor and honor in extinguishing the flames of prejudice within their ranks, starting at the top. To do anything less is to be satisfied with an image that is tarnished by a history of racial and gender discrimination.

We must create an environment that allows a child--regardless of race, gender or class--to say “I want to be a firefighter,” with the confidence that his or her dream is a realistic one. We can only keep this dream alive if the hiring and promotional practices of the LAFD are free of bias.