By Mara H. Gottfried
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A stuffed monkey in a noose that African-American firefighters discovered hanging at a St. Paul facility might have reflected “racially offensive stereotypes” but did not constitute the city engaging in an unfair discriminatory practice, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights found.
St. Paul firefighter Will Smith alleged the city discriminated against him “in the area of employment, on the basis of race” and that he was “subjected to reprisal, as prohibited by the Minnesota Human Rights Act,” according to a memorandum the city received Wednesday from the Human Rights Department.
The department stated it found no probable cause to support the allegation.
Firefighters, including Smith, discovered the stuffed monkey — dressed in what Smith has called African garb and cinched at the waist with a fire department shield — hanging from a noose in August 2008 at the city’s equipment service garage on Energy Park Drive. The garage handles maintenance for the fire and police departments.
“Not all actions reasonable people consider offensive amount to illegal discrimination,” said the Human Rights Department memo. It said courts have found discrimination if “that conduct or communication is so severe or pervasive that it has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s employment, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive employment environment.”
Regarding Smith’s claim of reprisal, the memo said the firefighter had not alleged “any adverse action that affected his daily work. Rather, he claimed that certain co-workers from other facilities shunned him when he encountered them during monthly training sessions. Courts have held that simple shunning does not rise to the level of a materially adverse action.”
Smith also “reported other troubling and threatening actions, such as unknown people publishing false statements about him on a website and leaving a noose on his car on a public street,” the memo said. The Human Rights Department concluded in the memo that “it is not reasonable to hold” the city “liable for actions by unknown persons in public places.”
After the monkey was reported to St. Paul Fire Chief Tim Butler last year, he ordered an outside investigation and disciplined two mechanics and a supervisor. The outside investigator determined the employees had not intended “to convey a racially charged message,” Butler wrote in letters to the disciplined employees.
St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said Wednesday: “We’re glad the investigation’s over and that it concluded the same thing as the third-party investigator. We continue to work to improve racial relations in the department.”
Smith, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, has 10 days to file an appeal of the Human Rights Department’s decision.
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