New York Judge Says FDNY Booing of Letitia James, Pro-Trump Chants Not About Politics, ‘Has to Do with Race’

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis reportedly cited the incident involving members of the New York City Fire Department booing state Attorney General Letitia James and chanting in favor of former President Trump last month in suggesting that a racist culture persists at the FDNY.

Garaufis recently ordered FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh and the city’s Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix, to appear before him at a status conference scheduled to discuss the settlement in the Vulcan Society of Black firefighters’ case against the FDNY in May, the New York Daily News reported.

{snip} Vulcan Society President Regina Wilson complained to Garaufis about a March 8 incident where some members of the FDNY booed James and chanted “Trump! Trump! Trump!” as the attorney general took the stage during a promotion ceremony {snip}

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“I don’t know if you had an opportunity to just see the vile nature of these members even when we were at Christian Cultural Center where they started booing and saying ‘Trump, Trump Trump,’ while Letitia James was at the podium,” Wilson said, referencing the incident that sparked an internal probe and prompted Kavanaugh to apologize. “This behavior is who this department is. Not all of them, but a large portion of them. So when Black people go to work and have to deal with this and you don’t get any help or support really from the department, it’s horrific.”

“Get the EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity] office straightened out. Take some of your brilliant lawyers from the Corporation Counsel and put them in there and start holding hearings. That’s not a request, that’s a direction,” Garaufis responded {snip} “I’ve lived in New York City all my life. I know what the problem is. And believe me, front and center is what happened the other day. This doesn’t have to do with politics, this has to do with race.”

The Vulcan Society accused the city of discrimination in a 2007 lawsuit, which the city agreed to settle for $98 million in back pay and benefits for aspiring minority firefighters in 2014.

While the case was still ongoing in 2011, Garaufis ruled that firefighter exams intentionally discriminated against Black people {snip}

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