In light of the current protests and calls for racial justice sweeping our nation, I wanted to take a few moments to share some thoughts with all of you from my heart.
There is no doubt that the events of the last few weeks have impacted us as firefighters just as much as they have impacted our friends and families. We are not immune to the emotional turmoil brewing all around us. The horrific images of what happened to George Floyd on that street in Minneapolis shook many of us to the very core of our beings.
As individuals, we find ourselves compelled to respond in various ways. Some of our members will want to join the protests and express outrage in that way. This is, of course, perfectly understandable and justifiable. Even though the Lynn Fire Department (LFD) is not an official participant in any protests, there is absolutely nothing wrong with individual members exercising their First-Amendment rights to participate in peaceful and lawful demonstrations.
Other members, perhaps less comfortable with the tenor of some of the demonstrations, or not completely in agreement with the demands of the marchers, (e.g. the calls for defunding public safety), will choose to let their voices be heard in other ways. This, too, is their prerogative. Each individual must wrestle with and come to terms with these issues as their own conscience dictates.
But as a department, I feel strongly that we should at least be sure to take these events as an opportunity to assess how well we are serving our community and living up to our motto. The motto of the LFD, printed at the bottom of all official stationery is: “Compassion — Professionalism — Service.” This means compassionate, professional service to all members of our community, and in all circumstances — regardless of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.
In other words, we must examine ourselves to be certain that nothing even approaching the kind of dehumanizing disrespect we saw displayed toward George Floyd could ever be repeated to anyone in our community by a member of the Lynn Fire Department. To ensure this, we must be honest enough with ourselves to engage in self-examination.
This need for self-examination is not a criticism. I believe the LFD is doing well with race relations, and we have certainly come a long way. As a Black man, I have not had to deal with much of the overt biases and prejudice that some of the Black firefighters that came before me dealt with. It has not always been smooth sailing for me, and I’ve had my challenges, but my experience was nothing compared to what an earlier generation contended with. They smoothed the path for me.
Much progress has been made, but there is still more to be done. In a city that is presently about 13 percent Black and 32 percent Hispanic, our department is still only six percent Black and six percent Hispanic. Granted, we are limited in a Civil Service system as to how much we can affect those numbers; but there are steps we can take to help ensure that the future LFD is more representative of the cultural demographics of the city as a whole.
For example, we can encourage more young people of color, (through career fairs as well as personal contacts), to consider and prepare for careers in the fire service. The more culturally representative our department is of the city around us, the more likely we are to be aware of important issues of cultural sensitivity as they crop up. This will help keep us on the cutting edge of delivering compassionate service to the residents of Lynn.
Let me close by saying how extremely proud I am of the work the Lynn Fire Department continues to do in our city. Each and every member of this department should be justifiably proud of the quality service we continue to provide, especially in these challenging times. At the same time, let’s recognize that there is more to be done, and let’s commit ourselves to always working towards being the most compassionate, professional, and culturally sensitive fire department we can possibly be. The citizens of Lynn deserve no less.
Thank you, and stay safe!
Stephen L. Archer is the Lynn Fire Department Chief of Department.
