White Seattle Fire Fighter Files Reverse Discrimination Lawsuit.

Seattle Fire Department Does Not
Tolerate Equal Rights for
Non-Minorities!

Feb. 20, 1998: Seattle firefighter Randy Hansen has filed lawsuit against the City of Seattle and his bosses for racial discrimination and denial of his 1st Amendment rights. The City of Seattle and the Seattle Fire Department may be found guilty of retaliation against Capt. Hansen for his criticism of race-related employee groups. Also named in Hansen’s lawsuit are Seattle’s interim fire chief Don Taylor and fire chief James Sewell.

Background: Captain Randy Hansen of the Seattle Fire Department is not a minority. He had become very tired of all the specialized employee organizations within his fire department which were devoted to specific racial categories. He decided to make a political statement expressing his disagreement with this type of racial stratification and divisiveness. Exercising his first amendment rights, in the spring of 1997 Capt. Hansen distributed a flyer for the "White Anglo Saxon European American Male Firefighters Association". It was intended as a parody of the other racial groups within the fire department.

How politically incorrect of Capt. Hansen!

Predictably, the other racial groups within his fire department jumped all over Hansen. The minority groups even got Hansen's bosses at the fire department to jump all over him.

Seattle's message to firefighers is this: "White European Males" aren’t allowed to form an association which is specific to their race! However, "approved" racial categories (minorities, as defined by the Federal Government) are not only allowed to form such associations, but they are actively encouraged to do so. When white guys do this type of thing it is considered racist, insensitive, and divisive. When persons of the ‘correct’ ethnic background do this, it is considered liberal, politically correct, and ‘healing’.

Following the publication of his "white firefighters" leaflet, Hansen has been subjected to open racial hostitility and racial epithets from minority members of the department. Department management (Sewell and Taylor) have tacitly supported and even encouraged the minority harassment of Hansen. At the same time Sewell, Taylor, and the rest of the fire department management hierarchy, have publicly disciplined Hansen for his "racial insensitivity" and for his "inappropriate behavior".

Hansen has lost over $1,000 per month as a result of the Seattle F.D.'s retaliation against him. His lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the discriminatory treatment he has received.

The official position of Seattle Fire officials is that minorities can -- and should -- criticize Hansen and accuse him of racism, but these same Seattle Fire officials forbid Hansen from criticizing any minority and prohibit Hansen from accusing any minority group of racism!

During the politically correct uproar following Hansen's exercise of his first amenment rights, the Seattle media have taken great delight in printing and broadcasting minority criticism of Hansen. Fire department management has endorsed these "reverse discrimination" epithets as the just and proper outrage of oppressed minorities against a "privileged" non-minority who had the temerity to criticize minorities!

One glowing exception in the media feeding frenzy was former Seattle radio talk show host John Carlson (KVI, 570 AM). Carlson was openly critical of the treatment Capt. Hansen received. But in December 1997 talk show host Carlson was asked to leave station KVI because of his politically incorrect views! (See Footnote 1, below.)

The convoluted logic of Hansen's case makes your head spin, but hang on because it gets even more outrageous.

Interim Fire Chief Don Taylor asserted that what Hansen did was inappropriate. The fire department disciplined Capt. Hansen. Department management tried to put a written warning into Hansen's permanent personnel record, and they did succeed in forcing him to attend "diversity / sensitivity" training (political re-education camp)!

Subsequently, the City of Seattle overturned the written warning and eliminated it from Hansen’s permanent personnel file. (Maybe somebody in Seattle government has some common sense. Maybe.)

Diversity Training (Political Re-Education): In the fall of 1997 Hansen reluctantly attended the required "political re-education" (diversity/sensitivity) course, as part of his punishment. The course was conducted by two black ‘diversity’ trainers from out of state.

Following this political re-education course, Hansen and several other non-minority city employees who had been forced to attend the course complained that the black trainers frequently made racist, anti-white statements, and encouraged similar statements from the minority members in the audience. Typical of the trainers’ anti-white statements was this gem: "All whites are racist and therefore no minorities can be racist." (As attested by 3 attendees.)

Three of the course attendees also verified that the ‘diversity’ trainers made the following statements: "...(L)ike cooking, the cream rises to the top. And we all know what color cream is - white!" At which point the other trainer added: "Or you could say that scum floats to the top."

Minority attendees were encouraged and supported by the trainers in making racist and inflammatory statements such as "Nicole (Simpson, OJ’s late ex-wife, who is white) was a slut, drug user and prostitute." According to witnesses, this trainee went on to say that O.J. did not kill his wife, and that neither she (the trainee) nor other black women would treat their men the way Nicole treated O.J.

The City of Seattle paid over $200 per attendee for subjecting "politically incorrect employees" (such as Capt. Hansen) to the racist diatribe of the 'diversity trainers'. So far, City of Seattle officials have declined comment on the complaints about the course which have been filed by non-minority attendees.

See Also: Capt. Hansen's Sept. 21, 1998 Statement and Update.

Footnote 1: Former Seattle radio talk show host John Carlson (KVI, 570 AM) was one of the significant Seattle media commentators on Captain Hansen’s situation. Host Carlson was openly critical of the Seattle F.D.'s treatment of Hansen, and of of the City of Seattle's 'diversity' policies in general. In December 1997 John Carlson was "let go" by radio KVI, in part for his for his criticism of the anti-white policies of the city and the fire department. Former KVI talk show host John Carlson is also chairman of Washington State’s version of Proposition 209 (Calif.) -- in Washington State the initiative is called the "Initiative 200 Campaign" -- it is widely believed that his involvement in this campaign played a significant role in his "being let go" by KVI Radio's management.

John Carlson continues to write for the News Tribune, and he is chairman of the Washington Institute for Policy Studies, which is championing the roll-back of Washington State’s racial preferences laws.

Footnote 2: According to the Seattle Times, non-minority males hold only 37.9% of the city of Seattle's "top city jobs"! This means that 62.1% of Seattle’s "top city jobs" have been denied to non-minority males. This figure is way out of proportion to the number of minorities in Seattle’s general work force, which is the standard for EEOC’s enforcement of racial quotas. Seattle government really isn’t a very friendly place for non-minority males!

Footnote 3: According to data presented in a Jan 16, 1996 Seattle Times story, the historic reverse discrimination against non-minorities in the Fire Department is no longer legally defensible! According to the Seattle Times: "Of the Fire Department's 900 members, 76.7 percent are white, 11.2 percent are African-American, 6.3 percent are Asian, 3.9 percent are Hispanic, and 1.9 percent are Native American. According to the 1990 census, 75.3 percent of the city's population was white and 10.1 percent was black." In other words, the racial "goals" have been met, so cut it out!