By Diana Moskovitz, McClatchy Newspapers –
MIAMI — A Miami-Dade fire captain has been demoted down to firefighter as punishment for a rant, posted on his personal Facebook page, about the Trayvon Martin case, county officials said Monday.
Capt. Brian Beckmann’s post lambasted the prosecutor, Angela Corey, who charged George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in Martin’s death.
In the post, Beckmann suggested “urban youth” are the products of “failed, sh—bag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents.”
He also brought his fellow firefighters into the post, saying: “I and my co-workers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, sh—bag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth.”
It ended with, “They’re just misunderstood little church-going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.”
A screen shot of the Facebook page was sent to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s human resources department on April 12, according to county records released Monday. A day later, it was published on the website theGrio.com, an African-American news website.
The ensuing investigation found that, though Beckmann’s Facebook page was personal, it hurt the public’s trust in the department, the disciplinary action report said. “While the opinion posted may have been personal, as a captain with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, it greatly disrupted the public’s confidence in our entire organization as a result of the reference to ‘my co-workers,’” it said.
Beckmann will be on administrative leave and must complete a psychological evaluation and diversity training before he returns, said Rowan Taylor, president of the Miami-Dade firefighters union. And when he does come back, it will be at the lower rank of firefighter.
Taylor said an appeal already had been filed. The appeals process will likely take several months.
What? Who’s “we”, you? But you’re right, in general, the black community has no problems and the democrats aren’t responsible for the mess this country is in in any form. Bush done it. When ten percent of the population has an inordinate percent of the crime, absent fathers, drug addiction, unwed pregnancies, welfare use and abuse, drop outs drug peddlers etc and most of the problems, caused by their own actions, seems like more than a “glittering generality”.
I don’t blame the conservatives any more than the liberals. The white community has no problems that are their fault right. If we get rid of blacks no one will need welfare and we will all live happily everafter. Conservatives make up 90% of racists so lets get rid of them too. Most liberals are all druggies and Queers so scratch them off or is that all a glittering generality!
The captain is absolutely right but not politically correct! Until libs and the black community does something about it it’ll only get worse! Just face it.
All you conservatives are racist KKK members who wish those liberals hadn’t passed the civil rights amendment and ruined this country. If you own a gun and a pickup you are out looking for blacks and jews to lynch. It is so easy to judge people you don’t know anything about. But I’m sure its not that their black its those hoodies that your scared of. I see people of all colors wearing hoodies here in MC and have never once thought they were going to car jack me. But I guess I’am a nieve liberal.
My such a broad brush you paint your glittering generalities with. Tell us, do we also dress in brown shirts and jack boots?
You are! Now you don’t have to wonder any more. Now change your avatar to NO SENSE!
My comments were to make a point about how people make assumptions about other people. Does the white community and the conservatives have to do something about skin heads, KKK, or neo natzis. If a black man decides you are a member of these groups with no proof and kills you can he just say its someone elses fault? I own a truck, guns and Iam liberal who would have guessed!