EXHIBIT 2-B

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PENSACOLA DIVISION

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CASE NO.3:05cv286/MCR

v.
CITY OF PENSACOLA,

Defendant.

AFFIDAVIT OF ~
Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared~
being by me first duly sworn deposes and states under oath as follows: -I am an African American firefighter.
Department in 1989.

,who,

I began work at the Pensacola Fire

Some of the things that I have experienced have caused me great frustration, hurt,
and disappointment, as there were times that I felt that I was working in a very hostile
environment.
The environment is hostile to African-Americans because known, proven, racist
actions and attitudes have not been punished. White firefighters continue to get unfair
preferential treatment and African-Americans continue to get adverse treatment.
One of the most demeaning and hurtful events occurred in early 1990 when I
was scheduled to receive pump training at the station; as I was the senior firefighter
assigned to the truck that I was on. When I arrived, another firefighter who was White
and who was not even assigned to the truck was given the training instead. During the
training, an alarm sounded for the White firefighter truck and he left to address it. I was
made to wait for his return before I could be trained. After he returned, he resumed his
training session and I was told to man the fire hose. After the White firefighter trained,
he turned the fire hose on me, knocking me backward violently, and soaking me from
head to foot. I was shocked and humiliated as everyone laughed at the sole Black
firefighter who was denied training. It reminded me of the civil rights movement when
Blacks were customarily attacked with dogs and fire hoses.
In addition, in the mid to late 90s, Chiefl
'J was heard by many White and Black
firefighters referring to sorne of the African-American firefighters as DAN, even though their
names may have been
~,oC
Sometime later we told that DAN stood for
"Dumb Ass Nigger." White firefighters also testified under oath that the Chief did this. To
my understanding, the Fire Chief has never been reprimanded for this action.

L~.~

~I

Throughout the 90s and until today, when White firefighters come into a new
station, they are quickly given jobs of responsibility, such as driving the truck, controlling
the hose, and various other on-the-job training and opportunities which are
subsequently the basis of subjective tests used for promotion.
Several African American firefighters hired after 2000 have experienced this same
t!",:""t.rnent_of denial of need","" tr;:Jininn. These younger Afrir-- A~Qrir~n~ ~re
. ~~~
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land the deceasei
_
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I know about their experIences because theyhave discussed it wit me and other African
American firefighters.

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of

Other African-Americans are traditionally and consistently required to cut the

grass, pick up cigarette butts, wash the fire trucks, and also to ride on the back of the
fire truck for years before they are allowed any hands-on experience which is
subsequently tested.
Moreover, throughout my tenure and until this date, White firefighters are regularly
continually given overtime, extra duty, and additional training opportunities which are
denied me and other African-Americans. A few years ago, the Captain examination was
conducted under inequitable circumstances.
The test was administered with the
understanding that there was only one promotion available and that was in a less than
desirable position.
However, after the completion of the examination process it was revealed that
White firefighters had prior knowledge that there were going to be six additional
Captains positions created. This knowledge gave White fire fighters an unreasonable
advantage in the examination process. Whites were notified in advance that the
additional positions would be available; therefore, the Whites studied hard and took the
test practically assuring themselves of the promotions before hand. No Black
firefighters were told that the additional promotions would take place.
In November 2002, I personally experienced a situation where I had to take a test
to compete for the Captain's position with nineteen other Lieutenants, all of whom were
White. The test required me to complete fire reports on a computer within a set amount
of time. When we went to take the test, all of the White firefighters had their passwords
so they could proceed with taking it. There was no password for me, the only AfricanAmerican, and I was not given the password and could not begin the test until ten minutes
of the timed exam had elapsed. I told the Fire Chief and test giver of tbe problem, but they
did not remedy the situation. Even though this was no fault of my own, there were no
accommodations to address the time I lost which negatively impacted my overall score.
In addition, prior to the test the White firefighters were told in advance that they did
not need to fill out a training form on the computer. I was not informed of this. As a
consequence, I wasted more time completing an unnecessary task which also negatively
affected my test score. As a result ofthese problems, I ended up ranking 2nd in testing.
I was bettered by one point. When it came time to select the person for vacant Captain

Captain position, ChiP-if,

Lieutenant, named

overlooked me deciding to give the promotion to a White

who ranked 3rd on the test.

The City subsequently intervened in the matter, forcing the Chief to promote me.
The Chief continued to limit my ability to excel because of his clear disapproval of me in
the position which I was placed. To further display his disdain for me, Dixon made it a
point to lessen the significance of my promotion. The way that he dealt with me then was
that instead of holding a big ceremony for my promotion to Captain and allowing my family
to come and see me get pinned with photographs and pomp and circumstance, he held
on to my Captain's bugles for three months. He then handed the bugles to me in private
in late February or March 2003.
My actual date of promotion was retroactive back to January 20, 2003. However,
the promotion should have actually taken place in late November 2002 when Chieft:...
called the individual he initiallv chose into the office for promotion. Both times that I have
been promoted by ChieL
I experienced the same mistreatment. In both cases,
~ _ -:) withheld my badge and nametag which he has a history of doing to AfricanAmericans.

The White firefighters are immediately promoted in the full presence of the unit
and their families with pomp and circumstance with photographs. They are not made to
wait months from the date of the promotion to the effective date.
I have found a hangman's noose in the fire truck I drive in the seat that I usually sit
in. It was a chilling reminder of how many African Americans died in the South. I took a
photo of it and brought it to chief """- i I wanted the evidence documented in case
incidences like that continued to ocCur.! did an initial investigation into who could have
placed the noose there when I was on military duty and there were so many potential
suspects that I do not think the identity of the noose maker could be found. It is difficult to
maintain any type of camaraderie and trust if you do not know which one of your brothers
is making a noose for your neck, whether it is intended as bad humor or a serious threat.
I am aware of white firefighters dressinq as Klansmen to scare African American
firefighters like
and
~ in the workplace.

C.

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.
~~_
-~, .fpredominant racist attitudes have not changed. Racial slurs
such'as nigger' are still commonly heard throughout the ranks when no African Awerican
is present. I have been told this by white firefighters such as ....
and ~ .'
They oppose the racial discrimination, but they have been retaueaeu against.

I have also experienced unfair treatment relating to leave. When discussing and

and requesting valid leave during my father's iIIne~s (he died in January 2003) and
for military reserve training leave, I was told by Chie( that my job as Facilitie6
Manager did not allow much leave although that pos.uon had been vacant for

approximately six months before my tenure began. Besides, I had almost 800 hours of
sick leave and about 800 hours of annual leave available. I was specifically told that I
would not be allowed to use leave to see my Dad the way I had in the past if I took the
facilities management job. Instead of offering me Family Medical leave to visit my Dad
under FMLA, the Chiefs specifically directed me not to use leave if I wanted the promotion.
I felt that I had no choice but to abide by the Chiefs' direction.
I know that all white
firefighters were granted leave generously if their family members were ill.
I was also stripped of my position in 2003 as Minority Recruiter for the firefighters
as I was told my job as Facilities Manager did not allow time for this. Removing me as
the recruiter has cost me overtime pay and has gutted the minority recruitment efforts.
This is in direct contradiction to the prior White Facilities Manager who was granted
leave liberally to perform Honor Guard detail for the firefighters. The former White
Facilities Manager was also allowed to earn overtime and receive other benefits while
on the Honor Guard and has attested to having the full support of the Chief and his
staff.
In 2003 I received an envelope whir.h contained a Job Performance Evaluation
that had been completed on me by Chief,~
The evaluation was sent to me for my
review and signature. Chief
-' intentionally by-passed the established chain-ofcommand so he could do the appraisal personally.
In doing my appraisal at that time, Chief~violated department policy
because he was not my supervisor during the assessment period. Moreover. the
evaluation was never discussed with me by my supervisor nor completed in my
presence which violates departmental guidelines. There was no reason for the Chief to
do it as my supervisor was available to do my evaluation. He was not away on military
duty at that time, but even if he was, my evaluation could have waited. There was
never a rush on evaluations. I have gone years without them at times.
In 2003, '_ ~ subjectively rated me as a marginal employee in all nine
categories and gave me an overall marginal performance rating. When I asked why hedecided to do the evaluation, he offered no explanation but simply stated that it was just
his decision.
The Civil Service Commission does not act independently. The Commission
responded to the directives of the Chief of the Fire Department. The Civil Service
Commission did not act on its own, but followed directives from Fire Chiefs and City
Officials.
The Plaintiffs and several others have complained to Ms. Humphrey about
several instances of African Americans receiving negative treatment with regard to
being deemed qualified to take a test and with regard to some firefighters being given
unfair advance notice of test questions and Ms. Humphrey never mentioned any appeal
rights to anyone. Instead she stated on numerous occasions that she could not do
anything to stop the cheating and unfair advantage.
Chief .__ ,.s stated to many firefighters that he did not want to promote me to
facilities manager because he did not like me. This was told to me by the firefighters.

I do not believe that my use of leave exceeds the average. I am not certain what
the cap on leave hours allowed to be carried over back then h, d the cap had been
waived in the past for white firefighters such as Captailf ....
- -. _-:-:' who was
transferred from the office back to the line exactly as I tlaa1IOile. I should have been
aI'?wed to carry ov-:r the residual ~ave likec-=
but instead 42 hours was
stripped from me with no explanation.
-

':J

t~ ,:..' ,

.~.ound a fourth noose in 2002. Acting Captain '

did not deny seeing ~ hangman's noose. He initially apologized to ~

_ _,
about the noose and said he had told other white firefighters thlt h~"'''rnan's nooses
were inappropriate at the fire station. About a mO~lat~r
..Mr.t
.. ~ ".!-'0said he did not

remember the noose, but he did apologize again to 1.

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At the timet
~.,Jfound the noose, I was only a Lieutenant with no
management respbiTsiml._"",~port
the noose to Human Resourcas or the ChJefs.
The responsibility to report the noose was on white firefighter, Acting CaptainC,
--< who failed to report the noose to CJnyone.
'
The other Plaintiffs and Ihave reported discrimination to our superiors in
numerous meetings with the City and Chiefs about racial discrimination. I have also
met as a group with other African American firefighters with the city manager.
Initially Idid m,,"pt fhe qualifications of Chief when chief["3got
ready to retire.
Shortly. before C~ief:'=- etired, t~e City changed the q~afifica!ion5"forthe Fire Chief
to require a certain amount of expenence as a Oeput.( Chref. ThiS excluded me, but
prior to that change, J was the most qualified. Chief~~ '~s
~iven the job as
interim Chief by City Manager. Tom Bonfield even thougn hiS qualifications were
meager. I was an 18-year career firefighter and had my four-year degree in firL~nce
~tKI met f!1e qualifications for that position and ap1!6~ for it. ~ite
fire.fighter ~ Nlth no degree, but a record of blatant racist Insults against African Anlencan
suoordinates, also applied for Interim Chief and was promoted over me.
Today after the last reorganization in late 2007 or early 2008, there are now two
different types of captain - ~--+~in One has more seniority and responsibility than
Captain Two. Both captain,""l!1d Captain
lare Captain One technically

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below the rank of Captain II. -.

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Sworn to byC:__
_
0 is personally known t
me or who produced
~ __ as identificatiOn Who ~~(esthat he SI9
davit on thist.?' day of
Septemben:,:@@ImI!~~~~~=:=:===i1
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DARRELLT.IICKS

MYCOMUtSS!ON.DCl358107
EXPIRES: Seplet1Iber 27, 200&
8onftcSThAotNcU.,.PubfiI;~

Notary Public
My Commission Expires:
-5-

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