# Fire chief caught refusing to help victims because they're black **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 20, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177 "2014-11-20T17:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/21 "2014-11-20T22:08:05Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Unfortunately, I think it’s very likely that guys like this are scattered through various local government/response roles in the South, Appalachia, and rural areas throughout the country. Yeah, couldn’t ever happen in the big city where everyone is enlightened…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/22 "2014-11-20T22:11:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You are, of course, being ironic here? Doing a parody of something a parody of a racist RW idiot would say about it? Nothing gets past you, **Brainy**. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/23 "2014-11-20T22:47:37Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Unfortunately, I think it’s very likely that guys like this are scattered through various local government/response roles in the South, Appalachia, and rural areas throughout the country. IME, plenty of people seem to feel that racist attitudes are only held in the South, and also that the South is nothing but bumpkins living in Lil’ Abner style shacks. The problem with that is it ignores the racist jerks living in urban areas of the North. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/24 "2014-11-20T22:50:35Z")
He’s a Hatfield. Can’t we just sic a McCoy on him and call it good? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/25 "2014-11-20T23:36:36Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > IME, plenty of people seem to feel that racist attitudes are only held in the South, and also that the South is nothing but bumpkins living in Lil’ Abner style shacks. The problem with that is it ignores the racist jerks living in urban areas of the North. The first time I ever heard “nigger” used as a slur, I was in Pensacola, FL. The first time someone ever called me “nigger” to my face, I was in Newark, NJ. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/26 "2014-11-21T00:05:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > But racism is dead in America. Not true. White people are the new victims of racism in America. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/27 "2014-11-21T00:07:00Z")
I agree that there are plenty of urban racists. In my experience, though, they don’t/can’t get away with being as open about it, and they’re less likely to be elected/appointed to government office, which is why I supposed that openly racist idiots like Hatfield in government are more common in the South and rural areas around the country. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/28 "2014-11-21T00:16:00Z")
It’s yet another glimpse of America that wouldn’t be believed if it weren’t for a body camera. I wonder if this is why body cameras are opposed by law enforcement? You say one nigger joke while the tape is running, and suddenly you ain’t got no job no more. Well, unless you’re the fire chief. He’s still got his job. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/29 "2014-11-21T00:57:54Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Not true. > > White people are the new victims of racism in America. Balderdash, sir! Tommyrot! ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/30 "2014-11-21T01:02:07Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Not true. > > White people are the new victims of racism in America. I still haven’t gotten my reparations from battling in the trenches of the Christmas Wars. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/31 "2014-11-21T02:07:47Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > IME, plenty of people seem to feel that racist attitudes are only held in the South, and also that the South is nothing but bumpkins living in Lil’ Abner style shacks. The problem with that is it ignores the racist jerks living in urban areas of the North. We all remember Martin Luther King and Lester Maddox and Bull Connor, but, from the same period, we seem to have forgotten all about [Louise Day Hicks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Day_Hicks) ,and the [sundown towns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town) of the Midwest and West, and the lengths white surbanites everywhere went to to keep their neighborhoods all-white. [Some still do.](http://www.amazon.com/Searching-Whitopia-Improbable-Journey-America/dp/B003D7JV8Y) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/32 "2014-11-21T02:16:31Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > That tape was edited to frame the fire chief, obviously, probably by a black fire fighter trying to take his job. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You are, of course, being ironic here? Doing a parody of something a parody of a racist RW idiot would say about it? Uhhh, \<_ **kaylasdad99** looks to see who is being addressed_\> _probably?_ ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/33 "2014-11-21T03:34:33Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The first time I ever heard “nigger” used as a slur, I was in Pensacola, FL. > > The first time someone ever called me “nigger” to my face, I was in Newark, NJ. This would be even more amazing if you were white. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/34 "2014-11-21T03:55:58Z")
As a resident of the stickiest of the sticks of Kentucky, I feel compelled to point out that Bullitt County is part of metro Louisville. That’s not to say we don’t have our share of racists and other assorted jackasses out in the backwoods. But this one ain’t ours. He’s technically a city jackass. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/35 "2014-11-21T04:44:35Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > This would be even more amazing if you were white. Early in 1979, I was walking on a narrow sidewalk in Georgia, in a town not all that far from Atlanta. I was married at the time, to a Korean from one of the bigger cities of Korea. An old white man was walking towards us and told my wife, “Get out of my way, nigger.” I was stunned and the only thing I could think of to say was, “Hey! That’s my wife you’re talking to!” Then the old white man said, “Then you’re a nigger too.” And, yes, I’m white. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/36 "2014-11-21T04:54:05Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > 1. In the vast majority of the cities in this country the fire departments would not provide roadside assistance to an uninjured person black or white in a situation like this–at most they would do would give them the phone number of local tow truck operators. So what? If he’s going above and beyond for some motorists, but doesn’t do so for others, based on race, that’s a problem. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/37 "2014-11-21T04:55:31Z")
Heh, we are all niggers in the eyes of TPTB. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/38 "2014-11-21T11:28:15Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > So what? > > If he’s going above and beyond for some motorists, but doesn’t do so for others, based on race, that’s a problem. The white motorist was injured, which probably brought the EMT crew out from the fire department. That is not really “above and beyond.” Saying _“We’ve got no services for the family if they are not injured”_ might have been callous, but possibly accurate. It was his explicit dismissal based only on race that is the issue. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/39 "2014-11-21T12:21:51Z")
The way I read the story, the “above and beyond” part involved Fire Department personnel performing roadside assistance actions on the man’s vehicle to “save him a bill,” presumably a tow truck bill. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177/40 "2014-11-21T13:35:26Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > White people are the new victims of racism in America. I’ve never been called a cracker _to my face_. And that hurts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-chief-caught-refusing-to-help-victims-because-theyre-black/705177.md?page=3)