St. Paul Fire Department reaches milestone with Black firefighters

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Diversity within the St. Paul Fire Department is more prevalent than ever. The department has the highest number of Black firefighters in promoted positions in department history. 

This is a testament to how far the department has come and the hard work of local organizations dedicated to equal opportunity. 

Change has been a long time coming

What they're saying:

If you ask Black retired St. Paul firefighters, this change has been a long time coming, and a fight they’ve been a part of for quite a long time.

"I’m just glad they don’t have to bear the burden," retired firefighter Nathanial Khaliq said. "It feels good. We feel good. And those of us that are still here, for the most part, have conversations and we feel good. God is good."

Khaliq helped start an organization called Black Firefighters United Association of St. Paul, a group created by Black firefighters who weren’t treated fairly. That organization still exists today with current St. Paul firefighters. The firefighters host community events, many of which involve the youth. 

"I think it gives the youth around here an opportunity to see something different Instead of just turning on the TV and seeing athletes. This is actually something that's tangible for them," St. Paul Captain Paramedic Brittney Baker said. "We all put our own money into the association. It comes out of our paychecks and it goes into an account and then we pay for items for the community out of that money."

Captain Baker is the first Black female fire captain in St. Paul history. She’s also the president of Black Firefighters United. 

"There’s a space for all of us. And so, I don't want to wait until I'm retired for there to be another Black female captain or for there to be a first Hispanic female on the department or a first Asian female on the department," Captain Baker said.  "I want to be able to see that while I'm here, so that they can bring up the next person with I don't want to make it to the top of the ladder to come down and be like, okay, now climb up."

What happened in the early 2000s, before?

What we know:

The way Black firefighters were treated was not the same as others. And according to retired firefighters, neither were Black community members in need of help. 

"As time went on, I could see an environment that was unwelcoming to people that looked like me," Khaliq recalled. "I worked in an environment out on the streets where people that look like me wasn't treated the same as others and started having conversations among the brothers, and we saw a pattern of how others were being treated for discipline, training, promotion, and felt that we needed to speak up." 

Khaliq retired from the department in the early 2000s after suing St. Paul and the fire department for racial discrimination multiple times. A few other Black firefighters were a part of this lawsuit. 

Khaliq describes his time with the St. Paul Fire Department as stressful. He worked for the department for decades and shared some of his experiences with FOX9. 

"The alarm goes off and you come down to go on a run and you're moving fast and you put your boots on and they’re full of broken glass," Khaliq remembered. "Or you're a driver and you get in the rig and get ready to take off and they got it in another gear and pump or something. Or out here on the streets, old ladies that have fallen, not given the same care. These were old black ladies in our community. And so, this was a very, very stressful time."

It was their organization that held them together. Black Firefighters United has always worked to be actively involved in the St. Paul community. They’ve fought for equal opportunities through recruitment, advocating for Black firefighters. 

"We finally decided, about seven or eight of us, we were going to go to a Union meeting," Khaliq said. "So, we went to the meeting and when I stood up to speak and started my discussion with the mayor about the environment we were working under and what they were going to do about it-- how was the city going to take corrective action? Several of the firefighters hollered, shut up N-word, sit down."

Khaliq said several of the Black firefighters file the first discrimination lawsuit in the 1990s. 

"It got worse after a settlement because we had to file another lawsuit that went to federal court," he said. "They found the department guilty of discrimination. But they also said that they took remedial action to correct it, which of course we didn't agree with."

How, when did diversity, equal opportunity change?

Dig deeper:

St. Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks has worked with the St. Paul Fire Department for decades. He became the fire chief in 2019. 

It wasn’t until he took over as the department’s leader, when he noticed opportunities were limited for Black firefighters.

He’ll never forget a conversation he had with one of his fire captains. 

"I said I have ideas of things we need to change and to create more opportunities for everybody but I’ll tell you, I don’t know if I’m going to be around long enough to see it. But I have been and it’s been very rewarding," Chief Inks said. 

This is just the beginning. 

Chief Inks has been working to make sweeping changes, communicating with current and long-time members of organizations, like Black Firefighters United. 

To make these changes, he had to look at the departments policy, history, and how his fire crews were feeling. 

"It was looking at old settlements, and that was a disturbing factor reading the settlement," the Chief said as he referenced experiences like the one Khaliq had. "Reading the settlement in itself was disappointing. Like how bad did it have to be that you would settle for this language?"

Chief Inks also noticed Black firefighters weren’t treated fairly compared to others, even in recent years. 

"The National Fire Academy is a big school to go to, to attain higher level leadership. But to go there, you need the head of the department or the fire chief to sign off that you can go and most fire chiefs look like me in the country and so what we found was, is that people of color, Black people, were not attending or not being allowed to attend these upper-level leadership schools."

Since Black firefighters weren’t allowed to attend the National Fire Academy, retired Oklahoma Assistant Fire Chief Dr. Carl Holmes, started the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute (EDI).

Decades ago, and during the litigation between St. Paul and Black firefighters, Dr. Holmes traveled to St. Paul to help Black firefighters. His institute is still prominent today and many Black firefighters in the department are sent there to train and gain leadership skills.

This is a five-year program that prepares you to be promoted within your department. Before Chief Inks, there were only three Black firefighters attending, using their own money for expenses. 

"They were paying for the airfare, getting time off, doing duty trades, or taking vacation, paying the tuition, paying for their room and board," Chief Inks said.

"Was that usual?" FOX9 reporter Symone Woolridge asked.

"No, because we send people to training all the time and we fund it. And I’m like, well that needs to stop right now," he answered. 

Since Chief Inks leadership, at least 15 Black firefighters are sent to train every year and most who have, have been promoted. 

This includes Deputy Chief Jamie Smith.

"There was a time where if you were a person of color, you didn't get promoted unless it was through a lawsuit," Smith said. 

Policy also prevented promotions. Chief Inks pushed to change civil service rules for fair hiring, promotion and treatment of employees.  

"That was one of the tougher ones to change," he said.

"Our efforts were worth you know every bit of the pain and the agony that we went through," Khaliq said.

Khaliq’s son, Malik Davis, is also a firefighter in St. Paul. He said he can see the impacts in the steps his father took to have the opportunities we’re seeing today. 

"I think overall the department is a good department," Davis said. "To his point, I think the leadership has made it real clear that they respect diversity and they're going to try and support diversity." 

And data shows this. 

This includes historic milestones such as: 

• The first Black female Captain in the department history
• The first Black female firefighter appointed to a rescue squad.
• Roughly 2/3 of St. Paul Black firefighters are either paramedics or in a promoted position like driver, captain, or Chiefs
• They also are in key leadership roles in all of the departments Pathways programs (i:e: Fire Explorers, EMS Academy, BLS Division)
• They are in key leadership roles in department Affinity groups like: Twin Cities Female Firefighter Fitness (TCF3), and Firefighters United (FFU)

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