Melissa Bailey Photo
Antonio Almodovar, who went public with complaints about racial discrimination in the fire department, has stepped down as president of the Latino firefighters association.
“Apparently in City Hall they believe that my voicing my concerns may be a little radical. In the best interest of the organization it would be best for me to resign,” he told the Independent. “Several of the members of the organization have felt that I have gone a little overboard in voicing my concerns on behalf of the organization. That by no means signifies that I will withhold my opinions.”
In a series of emails with Chief Allyn Wright last month, Almodovar (pictured above) accused the department of using “Latinos as guinea pigs, scapegoats and patsies.” He cited cases of what he called racially disparate discipline decisions; this Independent article has more on that.
Almodovar also took heat, he said, for some comments he posted on the group’s Facebook page.
Following is the text of a letter Almodovar sent to members of his group Tuesday announcing his resignation:
“It is with regret that I tender my resignation as president of the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association. It has come to my attention that because I have been out spoken on some of the issues that plague the New Haven Fire Department and Latino firefighters that I may be compromising opportunity for some of my fellow Latino firefighters.
“Apparently I am viewed as a radical. My mistake, I thought it was time to step up instead continuing to bow down.
“If I have caused embarrassment to the organization and to the members of the organization I apologize. I will not apologize for taking a stand as a leader on issues that have and would have affected the Latino firefighters and all firefighters on the department.
I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to serve as president. I wish the association luck in its future endeavors and I know that the members will always make it successful. Good luck.”
It would seem that killing the messenger instead of addressing the problems is the approach being taken. It would be interesting to know where the pressure was coming from which caused the resignation.
There is a problem in the fire department. It needs to be addressed before people get injured or killed. Ignoring the symptoms will not make the problems go away or fix them.