Practical Jokes, Racism, and Taxes
What in God’s green earth do these things have in common? Well I’ll tell you, Firefighter Tennie Pierce. Here’s the news article.
Now my first question is, “is this prank racially motivated?” I don’t think so, but lets move on. Is that worth $2.7 million of tax dollars? 2.7 where no bodily harm was done.
Lets put some more perspective on this. A fire department investigation says the October 2004 incident was intended to be a prank to “humble” Pierce after a station volleyball game where he had said, “You guys keep feeding the Big Dog.” This seems to me to be a clear line between what he has said and the prank. Nothing, I repeat nothing to do with his race or the color of his skin.
Well then this must have been an isolated incident an he was singled out for a practical joke. NO!
This is a culture within the LAFD, good or bad it has nothing to do with race. Pranks appear to go round and round.
So why should tax payers be forced to pay that kind of money without a fight? Why didn’t city council choose to fight it? Why after seeing the photographs was there a tied vote of 6 to 6, denying a fight?
This is a dangerous paradigm made by our current society. If one is a minority, then there must be mistreatment because they are a minority and must be treated with extra care. This is incredibly dangerous. We see this in Universities, Lawsuits, and almost everywhere else in our culture. This is inherently racist and sexist, just dressed up differently. Think about it, you are no longer judging a person by merits, but by their race or sex. Sounds like racism and/or sexism to me.
This disgusts and depress’ me. What’s the solution?
If we start holding people accountable, we’re racist/sexist. If we bring attention to it, we’re racist/sexist. If we call down the monarchs of race and sex, we’re racist/sexist. If we let it be it sets a standard for racism and sexism, therefore we’re racist/sexist.
Guess we just have to do whats right and take the heat. Call people down for what they are really doing, intentionally or not.
Mr Interested wrote:
Our culture has gotten really off balance. We see a crime against certain people as being more criminal than the same crime against others and that’s fundamentally wrong. If a minority were to assault a white person it is assault, but if whites assault a minority it is assault plus hate.
How does this make sense? How much discretion do we give ourselves in assessing crime? What value is there to society in offering greater protections to some in the population that we deny to others?
I want to live in a culture that values all as true equals, not one that creates barriers because of what is seen above. When incidents as described above take place, they have a “chilling effect” on relations nation wide. People begin to think in the back of their minds that they need to “watch out” around certain people. I don’t think anybody really wants that - maybe I’m wrong.
Posted on 16-Nov-06 at 12:25 pm | Permalink
john mcdonald wrote:
these are the facts of the case that came out today at genie harrison’s press conference. she’s pierce’s lawyer.
keep in mind, the case never rested solely on the fact that pierce was “pranked” and the question of whether or not the act was , in itself, racist. the case hinged on a) a cover-up by the LAFD involving the investigation and b) allowing hostile behavior to be perpetrated against mr. pierce in the weeks and months that followed. in legal terms, it’s called “intentional infliction of emotional distress and retaliation.”
according to employment law in CA, robert, an employer is responsible for maintaining a healthy work environment. those damning audits in 1994 and 2006 suggest the LAFD is anything but disneyland. chief bamattre said as much, agreeing with the findings.
some points now, and keep in mind this is from sworn depositions:
1) arevalo, who fed pierce the dogfood, used racist language with another black FF months prior
2) arevalo had serious problems with another black FF at the station, a woman. real treasure, this guy
3) a captain bought the dogfood
4) a black battalion chief wrote the initial disciplinary reports re: both white captains involved. the reports somehow disappeared. new, altered reports were written by a white supervsior and the black battallion chief’s name was added without his authorization.
this is a huge point, and the LAFD came to this conclusion, not some outside agency.
5) all the involved FFs met for a private breakfast to discuss how to handle the incident. first time ever they all met at one time outside the station, and the only guy not invited was the new FF, a black guy.
6) when pierce initially tried to come back on the job, the only station they’d allow him to go was the same place - #5 - where the incident occurred
sadly for all you non-believers, the LAFD found that there was an effort to cover-up the incident. they came to that conclusion themselves and admitted it on the record. additionally, numerous incidents took place where FFs rode pierce mercilessly, even in front of supervisors. all this is well-documented.
finally, while the photos do not look good, the fact is they are not the smoking-gun KFI radio and other dinosaurs like yourself would like people to believe. as we’ve learned, hazing was and is standard practice in the LAFD, and the current photos of pierce’s conduct are more than 10 years old. each case is judged on its own merits; just because pierce pranked someone else does not automatically discredit his claim. in sworn testimony, all the other FFs at #5 said that he did nothing to any of them that was related to this “prank.” LAFD management also found that nothing tennie pierce had done in the past had anything to do with him being fed dogfood. it was completely irrelevant.
on a side note: i hear there are several “choice” photos of LAFD brass about to come out. maybe some pals? stay tuned!!!
john mcdonald
Posted on 22-Nov-06 at 3:51 am | Permalink
Mr Interested wrote:
Interesting info and thanks for taking the time to put it all together here. Regardless of the evidence of corruption, do you think that a $2.7 million settlement is the appropriate way to deal with this sort of situation?
Posted on 22-Nov-06 at 10:36 am | Permalink
NBEHTM wrote:
First off I would like to Thank You for your insight-full response. When we set up this site our hopes were to create dialogue for the stuff we found interesting. Also, all parties should understand that we may need to agree to disagree.
That said, my major point about this situation is the City bent over backwards right away at the mere accusation of racism. A sociologist was brought in who made the correlation between canned dog food being a direct correlation to a “deep seeded racial hatred.” I’m not sure I get that, assuming it is, but the other side was never even presented! The photos were not shown, and none of the firefighters who were accused had their story told. The City Attorney then has the gall to recommend a payoff to the tune of $2.7 million! All without a comprehensive look at the situation. The City Attorney’s office has confirmed the photographs were in their possession at the time of presentation. If indeed a racist conspiracy is at the heart of this then I too would agree that he deserves his day in court, but that’s not what this is about. This is about our government, without thinking, under the mention of racism paying out literally millions of taxpayer money.
Thereby our society seems to handle racism similarly. Instead of dealing with it we merely throw up our hands and say OK. This is racism, but not perceived as such. It’s a slippery slope and we would fall a long way if we continue ignoring it.
Posted on 22-Nov-06 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
Mrs Ren wrote:
Wow…I enjoyed reading all of the details, as well as the revealing entertainment. If we could really all understand each other and say what we wanted then the people who cared wouldn’t mind, and the people who did mind, well we wouldn’t care!!!
Posted on 22-Nov-06 at 10:03 pm | Permalink
Bram Kelye wrote:
Genie Harrison, I believe, will be forever known as “The Dog Food Attorney.” In a substantial career-limiting fiasco–even after the photos were released–she claims that her client was wronged and that it’s shocking. And here is the question I ask: How could Ms. Harrison NOT have known about the hazing photos? Given that she has other LAFD discrimination cases in the works, I do not believe she will have much credibility and should probably resign herself from these other cases to avoid negating her clients’ best interests. Every time I think about this case, I laugh and will forever think of Genie Harrison as “The Dog Food Attorney.”
Posted on 28-Nov-06 at 10:51 pm | Permalink
Bram Kelye wrote:
One other comment. Why is it okay to make slurs against gays and then turn around and complain about dog food in your spaghetti as retaliation, harrassment and bigotry? In my opinion, the gay slur is much more offensive than eating dog food. Genie Harrison should think this over carefully before she speaks out for her client again.
Posted on 28-Nov-06 at 10:55 pm | Permalink
Something isn’t right. » Whatever’s Interesting wrote:
[…] in November I wrote a blog about Mr. Tennie Pierce (Practical Jokes, Racism and Taxes). There are some that believed this would blow over and show heftily in Pierce’s favor. That […]
Posted on 16-Mar-07 at 12:10 am | Permalink
Jack Q. Hoff wrote:
I like how “john Mcdonald” posts his 6 bullet points about the facts of the case against the Fire Dept.’s cult of racism sexism, but I have only one bullet point. Giving someone our tax dollars because they are armed with a high powered attorney is just WRONG and we need to stop this “CULT OF EXTORTION”. Thats my bullet point. Thats all I need JOHN!!!! ONE!!
Posted on 13-Oct-07 at 5:17 am | Permalink