Pictures of guns and racially insensitive comments cited by Black firefighters in grievance with Winston-Salem over racism charges

White fire captains in the Winston-Salem Fire Department talked about running over protesters or using police dogs against them, according to a grievance filing that a group of Black firefighters made with the city and released to the public.

The Black firefighters, consisting of some current and former members of the fire department, are demanding that the city fire Chief William "Trey" Mayo for failing to discipline white firefighters that the group said has created a hostile work environment for them.

Several white fire captains in the department should also be fired for violating departmental policies, the Black firefighters say. The Black firefighters, who call themselves Omnibus, say white firefighters made their inappropriate comments on social media and in person.

Out of context

Edward Scott Blair, one of the white fire captains, is pushing back publicly against the complaint made against him, saying that "every bit of this has been taken out of context."

Omnibus members charge that entrenched racism in the Winston-Salem Fire Department has shown itself through more than words: Their grievance filing includes an incident in which a firefighter made a noose during a rope and knots class.

Omnibus first issued its charges in a news conference on July 20.

Thomas Penn, one of the leaders of Omnibus, said the group decided to file a formal grievance with the city to give city leaders "an opportunity to prove themselves" after making their complaints more informally known.

Earlier, city officials had complained that the firefighters had not brought their concerns to the city through the proper channels. 

"They wanted a grievance, they got a grievance," Penn said. "Let's see if they follow through. It's really nothing new. The only thing we did was put it in a grievance form."

'Turn them loose!'

According to the grievance filing:

• Capt. Kelly Black Jernigan posted a link to a video in which police forced back protesters by advancing on them with police dogs, and made the comment, "That's what I'm talking about! Turn them loose!" Jernigan posted a video of protesters burning a flag and said "F&$k these people and everyone who backs them. How's the BLM movement now?" She complained that people were not talking about the criminal record of Jacob Blake, who was shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. Omnibus says Jernigan displayed "a blatant disregard for citizens and laws that should treat all citizens fairly and equally under the law." Jernigan also posted that it was "funny" that a mother and daughter taking part in a local protest were called "losers."
• Blair made comments about how he was traveling to Charlotte for dinner and "bringing my own silverware." Beneath the comment was a photo of three handguns. The comments came in a conversation after a non-employee had posted a picture of protesters blocking Interstate 40. Blair also posted comments harshly blasting Democratic politicians and people who vote for them.
• It wasn't in a social media posting, but the group says it has witnesses that Capt. Christopher Belcher said he would run down protesters on his way home from work. According to the group, Belcher, who is a training captain, made the comment during one of his classes.
• Another captain, Kevin Shore, is accused by the group of engaging in an online conversation that was "completely inappropriate, threatening and vile." Apparently commenting on the proposed name change to the Dixie Classic Fair, Shore complained about "riots, removal of statues, changing the name of events" and went on to say "there is no end to this." 

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'Back to Africa'

According to the copy of the conversation provided by Omnibus, another firefighter, Jacob Pardue, responded to Shore's comment by calling Dixie objectors "ignorant of their history." Then the conversation was joined by a woman who is not a fire department employee, who shared anti-Islamic memes and suggested that black people offended by slavery be sent "back to Africa."

Penn said Shore failed to denounce the remarks as he should have done. Penn said Blair, in another online conversation, violated policy by engaging in a political discussion in which he denounced N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper and his supporters and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Politics is not something we should be discussing" in public as city employees, Penn said.

Damon Dequenne, the assistant city manager of Winston-Salem and until recently the city's interim personnel chief, said the city would be scheduling hearings with the fire department employees who are named by the Omnibus group as committing violations.

City: no comment

"This is highly unusual that an employee would send a grievance to the media," Dequenne said. "From the city's perspective, this is a personnel matter, so we will not discuss it."

All the firefighters mentioned by the Omnibus group, along with Chief Mayo, were contacted through the fire department on Thursday and asked if they wanted to comment on the Omnibus allegations.

"This is for the record," Blair told a reporter at the Journal when he called on Thursday evening. "I completely deny all these allegations. Didn't happen. Every bit of this has been taken out of context. There was never a threat made."

Blair was referencing the part of the Omnibus grievance filing that includes screen shots of an online Facebook conversation he engaged in this past summer, when people taking part in local protests against police brutality blocked I-40.

A man who is not a Winston-Salem firefighter posted a picture of the protesters in the highway, and said people should "consider getting your concealed carry and some handgun training. No one usually intended to get in harm's way, but it happens. Please have the forethought to be trained to protect yourself and and your family. Let me know if you need a class." 

According to the screen shots from Omnibus, Blair enters the conversation a little later and says that a Saint gun "is a very good platform for such situations." He then goes on to describe some of the weapon's features.

Blair told the Journal reporter that his "such situations" comment was not in response to the comment about protesters, but in response to someone else who had asked him what the Saint was.

'Right to defend'

"It was about any dangerous situation," Blair said. "Everyone has the right to defend themselves. That's all. Did I encourage anyone to pick up a weapon? Did I promote violence? I did not."

Blair he is well-respected in the fire department and has 22 years of "dedicated service." He said he's not going to let that get "trashed and tarnished."

"My reputation and my livelihood are being threatened," Blair said.

Blair's Facebook page has a number of "likes," which the owner of a page has to select for them to appear there. One "like" was to a line of clothing called "Certified White Boy" that has since been removed.

The company sells various t-shirts and other apparel, much of which has the company name with skulls and similar illustrations. On its "about" page, the company says it's "not founded on prejudice, separatism or racism, but simply out of pride."

Blair ended the conversation when asked about the link, but earlier he said that he's worked successfully with "every ethnicity."

"I put my life into their hands and they put theirs in mine," he said. "I am a lot of things, but racist is not one of them and violent is not one of them."

Before the firefighters lodged their complaint in July, fire department employees were under the city's general social media policy. Under that policy, employees are told not to use their official capacity to endorse products or political causes, or gossip, complain or disparage anyone. The policy appears silent on cases where an employee speaks as a private citizen.

After the Omnibus group made its charges, the city moved to put the fire department under the same social media policy that covers police. 

That policy is more restrictive: It says that employees can't express themselves as private citizens on social media sites if their comments impair working relationships in the department, or discipline and harmony among co-workers. It says social media comments must not negatively affect the public perception of the department.

As well, the more restrictive policy says employees should "assume that their speech and related activity on social media sites will reflect upon their office and this department."

Policy: No bias

The policy has specific prohibitions on comments that "ridicule, malign, disparage or otherwise express bias against any race, any religion or any protected class of individuals." The policy also bans comments that reflect "behavior that would reasonably be considered reckless or irresponsible."

Robert Joyce, a professor of law and government at the UNC School of Government, wrote in a blog post about "Facebook rants" that cut-and-dried rules about what an employee can and can't say on social media are hard to come by.

"First amendment analysis of government employee speech is seldom a precise exercise," Joyce wrote. "The law is complicated. The courts are firm in their notion that the cases turn on their facts and hard-and-fast rules are not really available."

Joyce wrote that in 2011, and it's still true, he said in an email to the Journal.

Meanwhile, Penn said some of the fire department officials that his group has complained about were transferred to other jobs or even given promotions. 

"These are the same (social media) posts and the same individuals, and nothing has been done," Penn maintained. "We will see if they will abide by their own rules now."

In an email, an Omnibus spokesman called the city's grievance procedure "broken," and said that "many grievances that have been filed by black members of the department have more often than not failed to provide impartial results."

The Omnibus email also said that the city dispenses punishment for infractions in a way that is biased on racial and gender lines, or according to how loyal employees are to fire administration.

Diversity

According to the grievance filing, when white firefighter Michael Chapman made a noose during a rope and knots class, a complaining firefighter went up the chain of command to Mayo, who "chose to move to the next topic of discussion."

The group blames Mayo, too, for showing up at one of their recent press conferences on Sept. 21.

Mayo didn't speak, even when one of the speakers more or less invited him to, and told a reporter that he had been out of town during the group's previous announcements and "wanted to see it in person."

Omnibus now calls Mayo's appearance one of "multiple acts of intimidation," saying that the chief took photographs and spoke afterward to one of the retired firefighters who had spoken.

The Omnibus firefighters say the fire department needs more diversity in hiring, though Winston-Salem officials say the fire department here is ahead of many other urban North Carolina fire departments in minority hiring.

City officials cite a survey of departments around the state that showed 23.3% of Winston-Salem's fire department employees were black in 2017, compared to 12.8% in Charlotte, 18.5% in Durham, 16% in Greensboro and 14.2% in Raleigh.

The percentage of Black firefighters here dropped to 21.3% in 2020, the data shows, but an increase in the total number of firefighters meant that the number of Black firefighters actually stayed about the same.

Dequenne said the demographic makeup of the fire department's assistant chiefs is unchanged from when Mayo became chief in 2015: There are two white males and two Black males.

In 2015, there were three white males as division chiefs, but now the makeup is one white male, one Black male and one Black female. Dequenne said the fire department's senior staff is 55% minority.

The fire department has one Black battalion chief. Four minorities have tested for the position since Mayo became chief, and three of the four were promoted. However, one resigned to become an assistant chief in another department, and two have been promoted to division chief.

While the Omnibus members depict the problems in the fire department as going back many years, the department was led by a Black fire chief from 1980 to 1989, when Lester Ervin was the first Black chief, and again from 1998 to 2014, when Otis Cooper, John Gist and Anthony Farmer were chiefs in succession.

That the department has been led by Black chiefs doesn't change anything, Penn said.

"History will tell you that the color of the leader doesn't matter," Penn said, adding that Omnibus doesn't care what color the new chief is if Mayo goes. 

"We want a chief who is fair and impartial and can do the job," Penn said.

Penn said that although the Omnibus firefighters have identified certain individuals and their actions as causing problems, "This is a systemic problem," Penn said. "The individuals that we are speaking of now are just the end. The problem is that the system has to change, the coverup has to change, the type of individuals they hire has to change."