IS VERN BROWN THE NEW “HNIC”?
My sources in city hall are abuzz this evening. Indianapolis Fire Deputy Fire Chief Doug Reno is said to get ready to turn in his resignation over recent actions by Deputy Chief and Council Democrat Vern Brown. Brown who is an assistant chief allegedly vetoed a list of candidates for promotion for director of training because there were no African-Americans on the list. I had no idea Brown had that much control in the Indianapolis Fire Department. I thought Jim Greeson was in charge. The power must be nice. It is also another reason why public officials should not be allowed to serve on the Councils that govern them. Who knows what else is out there? I intend to find out.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Obviously, Vern Brown has someone in mind for that position. Given the City’s track record on discrimination lawsuits I would think Mr.Brown would be apt to not push the envelope on this matter.
On the other hand, if there are indeed qualified minorities for the position then they should be considered. However, it’s not Vern Brown’s call to make because he is not in charge of promotions. Or is he??
I see another lawsuit brewing here.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Based on what you’ve written here, it seems somehow the Fire Department produced a lily-white promotion list that somehow excluded African-Americans in a county that is 25% Black. Vern Brown apparently pointed out that such a segregated list in 2007 in Marion County simply isn’t acceptable anymore. I realize there are often bureaucratic excuses but based on what you’ve reported, it seems Vern Brown simply did the right thing: he suggested the list not be obviously exclusionary.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:13 am
MLK would hang his head in shame. V. Brown is so sad.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Wilson,
Are you suggesting that African-American employees be _forced_ to apply for positions? Do you have any proof that any qualified African-American even put in for the position?
September 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am
It’s just very peculiar than in 2007 in a fire district with a greater than 25% Black population that no African-Americans would be on a promotion list. Why were only white folk on the list for a better job? There may indeed be justifications (aren’t there always?) but such a segregated list simply looks odd in 2007.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Has Wilson ever considered all the qualified A-A people are already promoted? You have Sweet Pea, Vermouth, Ike Randolph, none of them are still dragging fire hose around anymore. Or in the case of Sweet Pea or Vermouth did they ever?
September 6th, 2007 at 10:31 am
First of all. Vern, Monroe and the union president run IFD. Greeson has admitted he doesn’t run the department. The training Chief’s job is open to anyone captain and above including females and blacks. It is an appointed position. not promoted.
IFD can find very few firefighters to take administrative jobs because the department is so screwed up right now
September 6th, 2007 at 10:35 am
A little off-topic, Abdul, but if last week being called a N—-r from a transient white dude, downtown was a bad thing…
why title your thread with an acronym which has that word as a part of it?
A little inconcsistent, doncha think?
September 6th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I hate to admit it, but Wilson has a (slight) point. A white-only list, if that’s true, is unacceptable in this day and age IF: qualified minorities and women applied but did not get put on the list. OR if they were discouraged from applying. We don’t know if that’s true. If it is, and qualified minorities/women were excluded, it’s wrong.
Vern Brown, tho, should not be the complainer of last resort. He’s on the legislative body which oversees the IFD. He ought to have the sense to let someone else raise the issue. Common sense is not in his domain, I’m afraid. Ditto Ike and Mr. President. Their constant whining a out IFD policies, given their elected status and power, makes them, in some quarters, expostfacto chiefs. Which would drive me nuts if I were chief. It is a system full of potential chuckholes.
I have a sinking feeling there’s a huge scandal brewing in the IFD administrative ranks. That’s the last thing we need right now. I only wonder if the disgruntled folks there will create their own website, ala IndyU, to sling around wild-ass accusations with little or no merit.
Nothing scarier than a PO’d public safety officer, fire or police, with a keybord and a temper, and no sense.
Ike Randolph toting hoses. What a huge laugh that is. And remember–he toyed with running for mayor.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Ike Randolph does tote hose. He is a private at Station 30 and is a good firefighter.
Vern, Sweetpea, and lance don’t have a clue what a firefighter is supposed to do.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Wilson, Vern Brown hates white people. he is the biggest racist IFD has ever seen. He was the drug program manager and lost that position because he would call ahead and tell black firefighters when they would be tested for alcohol or drugs later in the month and he would try everything he could to catch white firefighter drinking.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:30 am
If true, where did Vern Brown learn to hate and why. He wasn’t born into this world with hate, he acquired.
How old was Vern Brown in 1963? How was he raised?
September 6th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Last I heard, there is a forum/blog website for IFD. Honestly, I don’t know if they have much to complain about. Their contract basically says “Pay us what you pay the cops.” So the cops get slammed for asking for, and getting, raises. No one says anything about the firefighters, because they just let the cops and FOP do all the negative stuff and take the heat (pun intended!). Does anyone have a lead to this non-official IFD forum? I know I saw the link posted on Indy Undercover in the past.
September 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
I think 12:05 hit it right on the head. If you look at IMPD there is an enormous disproportion of minorities at the top. Over 1/3 of the majors and 2/3 of the Area Commanders are minorities. In fact they just created a promotion position for a formerly minority major. That’s certainly not a reflection of the dept’s numbers. So does that mean we should fire a bunch of people at the top and replace them with caucasians to make everyone feel better? The logic has to work both ways.
Mr. Wilson, I think a more appropriate figure to go by is the demographic of IFD and not the city’s population, IMHO.
September 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
ifdproboards51.forums or something like that… the ifd grapevine is the name
September 6th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Pay no attention to banned Wilson as he is trespassing on this blog. The promotion list is based upon merit; that means the “best person” for the job. Any member of IFD may take the promotion process and be rank-ordered. The city has already been sued by the Federal Government for documented reverse discrimination for hiring not based upon merit but race. It is wrong to consider race when hiring or promoting. The bottom line is: let the best person win!
September 6th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Anon 10:35,
My “N” stands for Negro. What word are you thinking of?
September 6th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
The names that were taken to the the Chief are simply the ones that showed an interest. It is not a promotion list, the job comes with a temp. rank that you lose when you leave the position. Not every Firefighter is willing to give up the 24/48 schedule to work 5 days a week. Head of training and Special OP’s takes a special background and experence. Of the top 8 positions in Adminstration 3 are white 4 are Black 1 is classified as non white. Of the three top positions in suppression 2 are Black and one is white. Seems pretty diverse to me,and yes we have one female FF because she was the only one that would give up the 24/48 cycle.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
You know something? If my house is on fire I couldn’t care less what color the firefighters are! I would even care less who their superiors are.
The point is, they have a job to do and they do it well and without a whole lot of bitching.
After over 40 years some people, black and white, just need to park the race bus they’ve been riding for years, throw away the keys and get on with more important problem happening in this town.
If Vern Brown is playing with fire he certainly must know that eventually he’ll get burned. I’m not ready to throw him under the same race bus that Wilson’s been driving his whole life.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
“The city has already been sued by the Federal Government for documented reverse discrimination for hiring not based upon merit but race. It is wrong to consider race when hiring or promoting. The bottom line is: let the best person win!”
There is no such thing as “reverse discrimination.” Using that logic, it means that the only people who can discriminate is white people. Discrimination is just that, reguardless of who is doing it.
Maybe it is time to use population as a factor. Only black officers can patrol black neighborhoods. Those black officers will be supervised by black admin. Hispanic officers will be used to police areas that are heavy hispanic. Again, their supervisors will be hispanic. On these police vehicles, the word “Police” will be replaced with “Policia.” Since a small % of our population only speaks Spanish, no English, the police department will be forced to convert that same % of their department to Spanish speaking only officers. Bi-lingual will not cut it, they _must_ reflect our population of people who speak Spanish _only_!
September 6th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Are we talking about the female firefighter in administration who gets captain’s pay and a take home vehicle and her only job is to put together a fire department year book. The same female who went to bed with Greeson to get the job and the same female prior to her being accepted by IFD was a contract person assigned to take pictures of all firefighters and their stations and the same female who went to bed with all she could to get on the department. I think her nickname is still ” The picture lady”
September 6th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Yes indeed ~ there is a “lily white list”. It’s the “white guy” list, and used to separate out the white males and hire them only on a one for one basis with everyone else.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Ed, isn’t that called segregation
September 6th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
anomymous 6:05 that comment is why Females win discrimination cases,you just helped prove their point.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
3:57 You can’t be serious with your convoluted way of thinking, are you??????
It is wrong to consider race when hiring or promoting. The bottom line is: let the best person win!
September 10th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Someone help me out here. If Vern Brown eliminated these 3 Firefighters because of their skin color,is this discrimination. He could have said we need more women and Blacks but he didn’t. He only threw out the names because they were White. Reverse this if a White superior threw out a list because they were Black and stated it, that is discrimination, and we’ve all seen it. Do these 3 Firefighters have a case here ,is there anyone out there that would take the case. The City pays off like a slot machine. Isn’t it time we treated everyone with fairness and respect.