Idiot fire-chief fired

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. We can safely assume there's some prejudice in their work decisions.

Regardless, that's against the fireman's creed and he should be removed from the service. Unfortunately, none of these disciplinary actions will remove the core racism and in fact probably just hardens them.

Check out how the demographics have changed in just 10 years (from Wikipedia on Gilmer County, WV):

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,160 people, 2,768 households, and 1,862 families living in the county. The population density was 21 people per square mile. There were 3,621 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 97.33% White, 0.91% Black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.57% Asian.... 0.70% of the population were Hispanic or Latino.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 8,693 people, 2,753 households, and 1,806 families living in the county. The population density was 25.7 inhabitants per square mile. There were 3,448 housing units at an average density of 10.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 82.5% white, 12.3% black or African American, 0.5% American Indian, 0.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.4% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 5.7% of the population.

So, in ten years it goes from under 3% non-white to over 17% non-white.

No excuse for it but that may explain much of the resentment. Likely overheard: "Them blacks and feriners are moving in to take us over".

There's an interesting read on this event here: https://www.weirtondailytimes.com/news/local-news/2020/06/photo-leads-to-removal/

(note the comments below that article)

KY........