firefighter – RI Future

December 5, 2014December 5, 2014

A sit down with firefighter Khari O’Connor

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Khari O’Connor was two weeks shy of 10 years old in 1997 when his 17-year-old brother, Malik, was shot and killed in a drive by shooting. Khari remembers hearing the voices screaming for his parents on the answering machine in his home that night. He was too young to understand everything that was going on, but he knew something had gone wrong. Malik and two friends were sitting in a car when the bullets struck. Malik’s friend was hit 10 times, and lived. Malik was hit once, and died.

Years later, as Khari stood inside the Providence Public Safety Complex watching the Providence Ferguson Protests, activists chanting, “All Black Lives Matter” stirred thoughts of his brother. The activists had been burning an American Flag, but the fire was all but out when Khari noticed a sign, held by a protester that said, “Equality.” Almost unbidden, Khari’s arm rose in solidarity with the ideas of equality and the importance of black lives.

I caught Khari’s act on video, it was brought to the attention of Providence Public Safety Superintendent Steven Paré, and now Khari faces official censure from the Providence Fire Department for the vague reason of “not being neutral.” Khari feels that if he accepts the punishment being meted out by Paré, he’s essentially admitting to raising his fist in support of the flag burning.

Worse, despite Khari’s anonymity being protected by Paré and department brass, his name has been spread all over the comments by anonymous trolls who have a lot of inside information about Khari and his position on the force. Rather than admit to something he did not do and suffer the rumors and innuendo that will inevitably follow him in his firefighting career, Khari has decided to fight.

Khari looks young, but he’s 27 years old, lean, easy going and soft spoken. He’s a good looking man, and radiates sincerity.

“I would never desecrate my country’s flag,” says Khari, “I would never support that.”

Khari comes from a family of veterans. His father and his uncle were both Marines, and both earned Purple Hearts in the Vietnam War. His grandfather servedin the Army in WWII, and one of his two older brothers was a Marine. “There’s been an American Flag in front of my house for over 20 years,” say Khari proudly.

Khari’s father confirms it. “You can ask any of our neighbors,” he says, “It’s been there forever.”

Khari can name almost all the houses on his parent’s street where veterans live. One of his high school friends lost his legs in Iraq. For Khari to support the burning of an American Flag is unthinkable.

“It’s preposterous. That’s not who I am. I was raised by a moral family.”

Malik’s death was the reason Khari joined the Fire Department. “I applied so I could help someone in [Malik’s] position,” says Khari, “To give back to him in a spiritual way…”

Malik has inspired Khari in other ways as well. When Malik died, Khari discovered the music cassettes his brother had left behind. With the greatest of care Khari would listen to his brother’s music, and learn about the artists from his brother’s magazines.

This love of music led Khari to his other career as DJ Knockout (Knockout, or K.O., are Khari O’Connor’s initials.) As DJ Knockout, Khari has hosted a radio show on WBRU Sundays for almost a year now.

Khari feels that the judgment by the Fire Department to censure him was rushed. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” says Khari.

Some community leaders and activists agree. At the “March 4 Khari” rally held Thursday night outside the Providence Public Safety Complex, Ray Watson implied bias when he asked the crowd “How many times have we complained about misconduct on behalf of law enforcement officials and we ain’t never seen a reaction as swift as we’re seeing with [Khari].”

A woman speaking at the rally pointed out that the police officers working on the night Khari raised his fist “didn’t agree with our message and had no problem showing it. They were yawning, they were laughing, they were texting, they were taking pictures- They did not take any of this seriously.

“When they say that Khari, standing in solidarity with his people, incited violence and incited a crowd that was going to uncontrollable, that’s a lie,” the woman continued, “What incited violence was that police officer that pushed that brother down with his own skateboard.”

Shortly after our interview, Khari was due at work for 4:30pm. An interview he had done with Channel 6 news was due to air at 5pm, and there was a rally in support of Khari scheduled to march on the Providence Public Safety Complex scheduled for 5:30pm. I wondered how all this was going to affect his job.

Khari didn’t know.

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December 3, 2014December 4, 2014

PVD Ferguson protest solidarity firefighter is DJ Knockout

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The Providence firefighter who raised his fist in solidarity with protesters who burned an American flag outside the Providence Public Safety Complex is Khari O’Connor, who also works as a DJ for WBRU on Sundays under the name DJ Knockout.

Though O’Connor’s name has been being bandied about on various comment blogs, Marissa Lee, a Media Relations Coordinator/ Consultant working for O’Connor confirmed the firefighter’s identity in an email and subsequent phone call with RI Future.

O’Connor was sworn in as a firefighter in early 2014, and was listed as being 26 years old at the time.

O’Connor outed himself on his Facebook fan page, running the defense of his action that this author wrote for RI Future.

“Dj Knockout (Khari O’Connor) is being wrongfully prosecuted for his beliefs while being a civil servant(Providence Firefighter)! We need your help!! Please Share!”

Marissa Lee has confirmed that an exclusive interview has been promised to a television station she would not name.

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December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Flow my tears, the fireman said

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I don’t know the firefighter who stood in the window, fist raised in solidarity with the protesters rallying outside the Providence Public Safety Complex a week ago. I don’t think anyone could tell who the figure was or what occupation the person might be employed in. All I could see was a silhouette, a literal shadow of humanity, demonstrating commonality with the protesters as a human being with emotions, thoughts and concerns.

What could I know about the figure in the window? I couldn’t be sure of the figure’s race or ethnicity. Medium build. Average height. Might be a man but in truth, until Commissioner Paré used identifying pronouns, I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure of gender.

All I could see was a human being, making contact, sharing the same pain and concern as those assembled below. I could have made up a thousand stories about the figure in the window, guessing at his or her reason for choosing to raise a fist in solidarity, but somehow, I never doubted the intentions of the act. Somehow the simple gesture of raising a fist in shadow communicated both solidarity and sincerity.

It was a meaningful, touching gesture.

Even those who believe that the firefighter’s actions were completely unwarranted and somehow a betrayal of his duty do not doubt the sincerity of the action. This was obviously not an act of mockery but an act of solidarity, and this came through even though the figure was only a silhouette, a shadow in the window, visually more symbol than human. The humanity of the act was palpable, almost psychic.

Commissioner Paré recognized the humanity of the action immediately. It was the sincerity of the gesture and the humanity expressed that made a silhouette with raised fist so dangerous. For the system to work, one side must be strong, powerful and monolithic and the other side must be weak, compliant and diverse. When the strong show tenderness and tolerance or the weak demonstrate strength and solidarity, the system strains to breaking, and punishments must be meted out.

I feel sad that my footage has caused the firefighter censure and official punishment. Commissioner Paré says the firefighter should have remained neutral, but were the disdainful looks or dismissive chuckles of other figures in the windows neutral? Dismissive attitudes also lack neutrality, yet it never occurred to me or the protesters to note such attitudes, because they are common. It seems neutrality is only neutral when it serves those in power.

If in the future I film police officers at protests laughing or taking a dismissive attitude towards the activists, will Commissioner Paré take them to task for their lack of neutrality? Perhaps the police should wear helmets to hide their emotions and mask their humanity. No one can see the tears of a stormtrooper as the trigger is squeezed.

Neutrality über alles.

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December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

PVD firefighter investigated for Ferguson solidarity

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A Providence firefighter is being investigated for seemingly indicating solidarity with Ferguson protesters marching outside of the Providence Public Safety Complex last week, video of which was captured by Steve Ahlquist.

Walt Buteau, of WPRI 12, reports the firefighter, who has not been named “is the focus of an internal investigation into a gesture he made during a flag-burning protest in front of the Providence Public Safety Complex.”

The alleged show of support was captured on video by Steve Ahlquist (2:30 in video below).

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said police officers working the protest brought the matter to his attention, and the above video confirmed the incident.

“It’s a violation of rules and regulations,” Pare said. “Public safety officers are not allowed to protest or get involved in political activity when they are on duty.” Off duty public safety officials are allowed to express their political opinions, he added.

The firefighter could be reprimanded, Pare said but the action won’t be public because it’s a personnel matter, and he declined to give the man’s name.

“There was no doubt he was showing support,” said Pare. “When he raised his fist in support of the demonstrators, it incited them.”

Pare said he would follow the same procedure if, for example, an on-duty firefighter showed support for a union protesting a Gina Raimondo fundraiser. But he acknowledged that Ferguson protesters penchant for civil disobedience adds an element not present in the other example. “Is it more concerning because of the protests across the country, where we’ve seen some violence and some property damage, perhaps.”

Local 799 President Paul Doughty declined to comment on the issue.

RI ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown sent this statement to RI Future:

Unfortunately, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have severely cut back on the First Amendment rights of public employees in the workplace. Even so, seeking to punish a firefighter merely for silently expressing support for an anti-racism protest is troubling on a number of levels. After all, the City has taken the legal position that firefighters can be forced to march in a Gay Pride parade against their beliefs. It’s somewhat ironic if city officials believe they can demand that firefighters participate in a demonstration of solidarity for gay rights but then punish a firefighter for quietly demonstrating support for racial justice.

The response to this incident raises other questions. According to news reports, Commissioner Pare indicated that city policy may have been violated because the firefighter should have been “neutral” in a political protest. While we can understand why police officers should generally demonstrate neutrality in a protest in which they are engaged in crowd control, did the police officer seen hugging a young protester in Ferguson engage in conduct that would have violated Providence’s “neutrality” policy? And even if such a policy makes sense for police officers in the middle of a demonstration, why must all other city employees demonstrate “neutrality” as well? At a time of political unrest, is it a violation of “neutrality” for a city employee to publicly salute a flag in response to a flag-burning across town?

Obviously, a government agency can set reasonable limits on what employees can say or do in their official capacities, and we don’t wish to minimize the complicated nature of issues that can sometimes be raised by government employee speech. But the investigation of the firefighter’s silent expression in this instance is problematic and undeserving of any sort of punitive response.