During my time with Chief Deedy, his behavior left me feeling completely segregated and alienated from everyone else. It felt as though my mates and I were being singled out and treated differently not because of our performance or our effort, but because of the color of our skin and our Hispanic last names. Instead of a professional and welcoming learning environment where everyone was treated as equals, there was a clear, uncomfortable divide in how we were spoken to and approached compared to others. Training to be a firefighter requires absolute trust and teamwork, but being made to feel isolated and lesser-than because of my background was incredibly disheartening and took a heavy emotional toll on my experience.
This is not Brian’s first prejudice event.