“It’s easier to praise you when you are gone than to stand with you when you were here,” former Fire Chief Sherman George told a small but committed group of supporters Tuesday morning at the Griot Museum of Black History in North St. Louis.
A press conference was held by the “Torchbearer for Justice” Committee to announce a fundraising campaign for an exhibit at the museum dedicated to Chief George and black firefighters.
The centerpiece of the exhibit will be a life-sized wax likeness of George, the first African-American fire chief for the City of St. Louis. The funds needed to make the exhibit are $50,000 according to Brenda Jones, executive director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and committee co-chair.
Her co-chair is Captain Addington Stewart, who was president of the Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality during George’s long standoff against the administration of Mayor Francis G. Slay over a contested set of promotions.
In his remarks, Stewart did not dwell on George’s struggles with Slay and Slay’s department directors, but rather gave a long list of George’s contributions to the fire department and citizen safety.
State Rep. James T. Morris, pastor of Lane Tabernacle CME Church, is another member of the committee who spoke of George’s merits for recognition in the history museum.
“It is good to honor him while he was alive, because we see how much he means to the community,” Morris said.
The other committee members present for the announcement were James H. Buford, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; Lois Conley and Erika D. Neal, director and deputy director of the Griot Museum; Redditt Hudson of the ACLU; Jacque Land of the Platinum Group; and the chief’s wife, Catherine George.
Other listed committee members are Ina Boon, Howard Denson, the Rev. Phillip Duvall, Pastor B. T. Rice, Linda Stewart, Keith A. Willis and Earl Wilson Jr.
Wilson’s son, Richard Gray, who took over for him as president of the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation, was present with his daughter, Dawn Fuller, who works in the office of U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay.
George remains locked in legal appeals with the Slay administration. He retired from the St. Louis Fire Department in 2007 after his demotion by Director of Public Safety Charles Bryson, who had been promoted to that position by Mayor Slay after Bryson’s predecessor as director, Sam Simon, threatened George with disciplinary action. After his promotion, Bryson immediately stated he would carry out Simon’s threat.
In opposing his bosses, George relied on the authority of the City Charter and a previous judicial ruling that it was the chief’s authority to promote “or not promote” based on any list drawn up by the Department of Personnel. George opposed this promotions list because it was based on a test conducted by a firm he had advised Personnel not to use for testing firefighters.
After George’s demotion and resignation, acting Chief Steven Kotraba and his replacement, Chief Dennis Jenkerson, went forward with the promotions, which strongly favored white firefighters.
As The American reported in 2008, after the first major sets of promotions were pushed through, Jenkerson and Kotraba promoted 25 white firefighters to captain but only seven black firefighters. They promoted three new white battalion chiefs, two black battalion chiefs and one Hispanic.
That means white families of new captains gained $350,000 in annual salary increases, while black families received only $98,000. White families of new battalion chiefs have received $36,000 while black families have received $24,000.
Thus $386,000 in annual salary increases were awarded to the families of white firefighters, yet only $122,000 in annual salary increases for the families of black firefighters. Add in Jenkerson’s $25,000 annual raise, and the annual advantage to whites becomes $411,000 to $122,000.
“The St. Louis Fire Department was integrated in 1961, six years before I joined,” George said in his remarks. “Sometimes history is not so distant. History teaches us more than anything not to repeat history. That is why we are going backwards in the fire department.”
To contribute funds for the Torchbearer for Justice Interpretive Exhibit, contact co-chair Brenda Jones at (314) 652-3114 x21 or brenda@aclu-em.org.