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- --- . - - --- -______-,CITY OF AT LANT A 8 August 1969 ., '. ! Memorandum Regarding Discriminatio n .Ag ai n st Black Fir emen Of Atlanta . '· -- - ~ _· - _. To : Mayor Ivan Allen, Choirman Board of Fir emast-ers-, AJde rma-n.____Wm. i. T. Knight and Atlanta Fire Chief Pa ul o. Wi lliams · -. ________ · - ~ -- ___ ---.....___ --· . .-Black Firemen of At l ant a -- -· From: I The Bla ck firef i ght er s of Atlanta are dedicated municipal emplo{ee ~._ concerned wit h th e sa fe ty a nd welfare of ou r city and all of its citizen$ : 'During the ye ars of ou r te nure as firemen we have been subjected to dis- ·. - ·\ crimination and abu s es as outlined below. We request that imrre diate _ action be t ak en t o co rr ec t these p r actices, and t hat on or before Mond~·-' · 1 August 18, 19 69 t hat we r eceive a fo r mal repo r t on your '1rc-l io ns in corre ~ ' ing the act i ons c i t ed herein: / · . ·-...... 1 0 ~ I. HIRING PRACTICES .. - :: ::-- - - ~ ..::! f; The rati o of Black Firemen to White Firemen -dpes not correspon to -th-e' population of Blac k citizens in Atlanta. There a re----~bout 90 to 100 Black Firemen in a depa r tment of more. than 900 men. Blac k---E iremery that are drafted into t he armed servic~s are replaced by _white fi r emen ~ II. SEGREGATED SLE EPING & LOCKER A.ttRANGEMENTS J Loc k ers and b eds of :Black Fir emen are placed in the back or away. from the whi te firemen. III. RECR EAT ION CLUB · - - ~ ~ ---- c_.d>rn .l963G IV. ~ ~ -- ~ The membership was closed th e yea r Bla ck Fi r emen were h!~cd i~ Lan d was given t c the club by the gov ernme~ · on Lake Aila!o~l}a~l3 a cres)_ ..( C <I-,.,, PROMOTIONAL DISCRI MI NATION l._S,~ - ~ CL,v<-JD1u , c0.d,,/- N,0 ,,..10--(_ ~f Ov<-'-'t /ct ~ - - - o-.... ) - I i .--I Black Firemen should be included in every department. White Ji~~ ~ , r.1 en with 1 es s t i me and experience are promoted - to -dr-i-ve-r po sit ions. ~Black Firer.1e n with 5 and 6 years should be promoted to Lieutenants --;- -·be-cause the ent ire officer cabinet is made uo of all white officers. Most of these o f f i c er s h av e____p_eJ;.n__Jm own-t-o-f-G-I'-€-e--'t-1,-e±-r--p-r-ejt1d-±-ce-s- on·- s-1-a c k F ire me n • We are- a\'1are o, f the test for Lieutenants, but in a time of an emergency men hav e b een promoted wholesale from private to captains within a year , thus_ settin g prope r precedent . We consider this an emergeJ)_cy .-heG-atl-'Se --o-f tne over~ ll discr i mination in the department. White drivers are giving up their positions b e cause they know future Lieutenants are going to be appointed by Chief s . · Th i s is true because in the last captain's test the aides of all •I the chief s dominated the list. Some of these Lieutenants didn't place in the top 40 on the Lieutenants list . Now they are captains. ~ ·V. EXPERIENCE AND LENGTH OF TIME ON THE DEPARTMENT Acting officers, we feel that every Black Firemen with the time_ and exp eri ence , equal to any white firemen, should be . given· the opportunity to be an a c ~i ng off ice:r:: This apJ?li~s tofitra driverso House d~ies should be picked according to sen1or1 ty. ~ 1 I-~ ~ -{urv-dio ) VI. STAtJDAR D SET OF RULES FOR ALL C INS Eich shif t is operated different , capt a in authority has no limito Tran s fe r of ~en to other stations. ( ~ ~~ ~ He forces pers ona l prejudices on Black Fi r emen. 6 FOR CONTACT: .- --·- Fireman William Hamer 195 Hermer Circle , N. W. Atl anta , Geo r gia 30311 __ _____ elephone - 794- 2244 _ - or ---Fire Sta t i on 16 on C Sh i ft Telepho ne 523-5786 -~ N . ____ _ - - . r./l.P1./v ciZf 77v-, ,-. . ,· I • I ., .. (· �