FDNY official defends excluding famed 9/11 firefighter from procession for being whiteNY Post, Jul 25, 2020
Brooklyn firefighters George Johnson (left), Daniel McWilliams( center) and Billy Eisengrein lifting the American
flag after the attacks on the World Trade Center. A top FDNY official says it’s “most definitely†acceptable to exclude a white firefighter from a ceremonial unit based solely on his skin color, The Post has learned.
Cecilia Loving, the department’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, is defending a decision to kick Lt. Daniel McWilliams — one of three firefighters in the iconic 9/11 Ground Zero flag-raising photo — off a color-guard procession so it would be all-black.
Loving testified at a state Divsion of Human Rights trial on McWilliam’s complaint that he was the victim of racial bias.
When McWilliams showed up at a 2017 memorial mass to honor deceased members of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal group of black FDNY firefighters, he was barred from holding a flag in the color guard.
Regina Wilson, then Vulcan Society president, asked McWilliams to “help in a different capacity†because he is not black.
Loving, who is black, testified there is nothing wrong with that.
“So, a request for an all-black color guard is not discriminatory?†McWilliam’s lawyer, Keith Sullivan, asked in the trial.
“No, it isn’t,†Loving replied.
Asked if it’s acceptable to request an all-black color guard, she said, “Most definitely.â€
Loving said it’s okay to replace a white member with an African-American to “uplift our identities and our separate ethnicities in order to instill a sense of pride and community and support for one another.â€
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