NEW YORK — The head of the city’s Black firefighters group bashed the FDNY for not making significant progress in creating a “less hostile” atmosphere at firehouses — despite changes required by a groundbreaking civil rights lawsuit.
New York City firehouses remain hotbeds of racism and discrimination even after judicial orders and a settlement in the case reached in 2014, according to Regina Wilson, the president of the Vulcan Society, which represents Black firefighters.
“It’s been a number of years and our firefighters in the field are still out there trying to change the negative culture and traditions hoisted upon us,” said Wilson, the first woman president of the Vulcan Society. “We’re sick of waiting, sick of being hazed, sick of being harassed and sick of dealing with this.”
