International Association of Black Professional Firefighters

[citation needed] Medal of Valor recipients include: The IABPFF also celebrates and recognizes our leadership as an organization who had the courage and vision to “speak truth to power” over the many decades we “kept the fire burning for Justice” to quote Capt.

In cities where blacks came to achieve an absolute political majority – such as Baltimore, Newark, Gary, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. – threats of lawsuits forced the integration of those fire departments.

Boston suffered from the imposition of a state tax law derived from ‘Proposition 2½’[18] which caused the elimination of some 200 black firefighters until the layoffs were reversed by funds directly acquired by the city to re-hire them.

NYC used the 1975 fiscal crisis to not proceed with court-ordered hiring of black firefighters as a result of a ruling in a 1973 lawsuit[19] filed by the Vulcan Society.

Around the country various ploys to prevent blacks from being hired as firefighters were disguised as fiscal austerity to provide cover for politicians who had no allegiance to nor fear of voter backlash from the minority communities which disproportionately suffered from firehouse closings.

[20] This chain reaction saw social collapse and vast areas turned into urban deserts wholly lacking a normal community life.

The AAAFA being the party involved in bringing the lawsuit, argued that the Federal consent decree trumps and overrides any state code so that the AFA (Local 975) request to enjoin the discussions is deleterious to the process.