Sarah Elms
The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
TOLEDO, Ohio — The family of a recently terminated Toledo Fire Department recruit is calling on city officials to improve the way they treat minorities vying for positions in the department.
Earl Murry, a spokesman for Major Smith III, told a crowd of about 40 on Thursday at the Frederick Douglass Community Center that he believes the recruit was fired because he is black. He was one of three African-American recruits in fire class 292, which held its graduation ceremony in May. Mr. Smith, 23, was let go in June.
“I think race is a significant factor for why he was terminated, yes,” Mr. Murry said.
But others contend race was not a factor, and Mr. Smith was given several chances to meet the state’s requirements to become a firefighter.
Outgoing Chief Luis Santiago confirmed Thursday that Mr. Smith was given remedial training after he could not successfully complete the ventilation portion of his physical test. He also confirmed the administration’s reason for firing Mr. Smith was that he was unable to meet the state’s standards, but he did not want to comment on the matter further.
Mr. Murry acknowledged that Mr. Smith was given “numerous” opportunities to complete the ventilation exercise successfully. But he argued the recruit was not given proper coaching to adequately prepare him for the task and that his white counterparts were.
“We wanted him to have an instructor who would show him how to do what he needed to do rather than telling him to do it,” Mr. Murry said.
He said the family intends to file a racial discrimination complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “on behalf of African-American firemen who presently are and who formally have been adversely affected because of such systematic racial discriminatory practices with the Toledo Fire department.”
Mr. Smith’s father, Major Smith II, said he wants to ensure his son can pursue his dream career as a firefighter, but he also wants to see Toledo officials embrace young minorities who seek employment in the city.
Mr. Smith’s mother, Alicia Smith, is the former director of the city’s Youth Commission and current manager of youth and recreation. She recently notified her supervisors at One Government Center that she will leave her role Aug. 1 in light of her son’s firing.
“I would not work for a city that would treat young people this way,” she said. “If he would have done something wrong and was rightfully terminated, I would have told Major, ‘Find something else to do.’ But he did not.”
Neither Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz nor his safety director, Karen Poore, who also serves as deputy chief of staff, could be reached for comment Thursday night.
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©2018 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)