Can anyone spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y? Retired Miami-Dade County firefighter William Clark obviously cannot.
Can anyone spell i-r-o-n-y? The Gadfly can.
On Monday, September 17, 2001, a scant six days after the terrorist attacks on American soil, then “Fire Chief R.D. Paulison ordered that flags be flown at all fire stations and on all fire trucks.” Firefighter William Clark and two others stationed at the Opa-Locka fire house refused to ride the firetruck that was flying our American Flag, according to a Sun Sentinel article dated September 20, 2001. They claimed the reason was because he found “the flag offensive and said it represented oppression.” The three firefighters were black. Mr. Clark and his colleagues “expressed views about racial politics in the United States throughout the day.” Clark was also quoted as saying, “The men think that once the country’s renewed sense of patriotism dies down, racial discrimination will continue.” Clark and his buddies claimed that if they were forced to ride on a truck with the offensive American Flag, it would violate their First Amendment rights. The ACLU was called in and reported:
“Even if the allegations were true, the firefighters would not have a First Amendment case, said Randall Marshall, legal director of the Florida chapter of the ACLU. If firefighters were disciplined for refusing to ride on a flag-waving truck, they would have to seek recourse on other grounds.”
Mr. Clark was also quoted as saying, “It was almost like we were guilty without being properly tried.”
Fast forward to Wednesday, April 18, 2012. After Miami-Dade County Capt. Brian Beckmann was called on the carpet for posting what some believe is a racist rant on his personal Facebook page, members of the black community including now retired firefighter William Clark are protesting Mr. Beckmann’s First Amendment Rights. Mr. Beckmann wrote, “I and my coworkers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, *expletive*, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents.”
I don’t see the word “black” anywhere in there, but apparently the “black community” saw it. WTF? And, even if Mr. Beckmann said “black,” which he did not, he still has the right to say it. As far as I know, no one has patented or copywrited the word “black.” Yet.
The local CBS affiliate’s article stated:
Retired firefighter William Clark said he was not surprised when he heard about Beckmann’s post.
“The fire department is rife, is littered with Brian Beckmanns. Trust me. As an African-American firefighter who served 28 years for this fire department and this community. I had to fight Brian Beckman’s all throughout my career,” said Clark.
To quote William Clark’s own words, Captain Beckman is “guilty without being properly tried.”
Oh, the irony.
As reported on themilitant.com, a self described socialist newspaper, the three American Flag hating firefighters were suspended for their action. Fire Chief Dave Paulison ordered the flag to be flown, “as a symbol of unity, national pride, and patriotism.” William Clark and Co. felt that “the flag was a symbol of oppression to the Black man.” The Militant reported, “Clark pointed out that their opinion of the flag in no way affected their ability to do their job. Moore, a firefighter for 20 years, also hit on the denial of democratic rights. Because of his opinions about the flag, he explained, “Right now, I can’t go to work. No one will speak to me. You have freedoms here as long as it goes along with the program.” The socialist newspaper also quoted William Clark as saying, “This is hypocrisy. The American flag is supposed to mean freedom and justice and equality for all who are protected by the laws of this country. It is supposed to protect those who have a difference of opinion, except in this case.”
Well, well, well. Retired firefighter William Clark apparently does know what hypocrisy is.
Too bad irony escapes his intellect.
Mr. Clark and his wife, Stephana are well known in their Liberty City community for having owned and operated a “black” bookstore. According to a Miami New Times article dated December 18, 2003, “They have run Afro-In Books and Things www.afro-in-books.com since purchasing it in 1993 from another married couple, Earl and Eursula Wells.” According to the article, the Clarks wanted to continue “the Wellses’ vision,” which was to elevate reading of history and heritage in the black community.” The store’s motto is “Where the black experience is celebrated 365 days a year.”
Obviously Mr. Clark feels that the black community is and should remain separate from the rest of America, and that the “black experience” is worth promoting.
And apparently exploiting when it suits his agenda.
The irony is that Mr. Clark hates the American Flag and what HE believes it represents, but will attempt to use the First Amendment to shield himself from the consequences of his own hateful speech and actions.
Even more ironic is that Mr. Clark is now willing to refuse Captain Brian Beckmann his First Amendment rights to speak his mind.
Mr. Clark feels it is perfectly within his rights as an American Flag hating American citizen to rail against “the white man” in a very public forum, but Captain Beckmann cannot say what he feels, even if it’s not directed specifically at blacks. As long as Mr. Clark thinks it’s racism, nothing else matters.
Mr. Clark claims that the very same American Flag he rejects now protects “those who have a difference of opinion.”
Unless those opinions differ from his own.
Now, that, Mr. Clark, is the most heinous kind of hypocrisy there is.
The irony is that you don’t even see what a hypocrite you are.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealthy”
Lol! Thats awesome!!!! I wish the local media would call him out on this. I’m sure he’ll want to be interviewed again claiming racism amongst MDFR Administration when they hopefully clear the Captain of any wrong doing.
Thank you!
You are very welcome! Thanks for reading my blog.
As the accompanying article clearly shows, racism is not the exclusive ailment of the white community. Still hurting from the loss of so many brothers in the Twin Towers these individuals chose to bring their resentment, prejudice and self proclaimed hatred TO WORK. These, and others who made no effort to keep their extreme opinions to themselves while at work. I know for a fact that no one protested outside of County Hall to have them fired. They were pretty much left alone and tolerated as long as their vocal beliefs did not reflect their service to the community. It wasn’t very difficult to meet that low bar, because they chose to work exclusively in predominantly African American neighborhoods unless they could provoke responses from other firefighters by spewing their hateful opinions in stations better racially and gender represented. I know from 30 years of service that Bill Clark is not the only hypocrite demonstrating against Capt. Beckman. I only hope that Chief Bryson, who himself has dealt with the issue in the City of Miami and now in Miami Dade will not succumb to the pressures of these vocal few. There is a lot of racism and unfairness yet left to be eradicated in this country, but crucifying an excellent public servant is not the way to address it. We are firefighters, so lets not fan the flames, but work to put them out.
Thank you for your comments. They are much appreciated. Thank you for your service to our community, too!Aww Stephanie, I’m disappointed with you. If you would’ve done your homework you would have discovered that the Fire Department ruled that I didn’t have anything to do with the flag fiasco. I was on overtime during that day and left at 7pm. It wasn’t until afterwards that the removal of the flag was bought up by the brass and a few comments were made about the flag’s significance on the truck by the other firefighters. But the initial removal of the flag was done because of a safety issue seen by the driver and not some political stance by three black firefighters. Please request a copy of the department’s final findings. You will see that I personally didn’t have any knowledge of it until days later and that the removal of the flag wasn’t a contrived event by some three Muslim firefighters. In fact neither of us our Muslim. This blogs is just like some others that seeks to defame me without getting all the facts. It borders on defamation of my character and maybe it’s time for me to get a lawyer and start fighting back. All I ever wanted was to have my fellow firefighters to treat my neighborhood with the same respect that I’ve always treated others. Some even call me racist but what they see from me is my reaction to the racist behavior that I’ve experience over the years. And if you think Mr. Beckman was referring to Black youth, you are out of your mind.
I wrote back to Mr. Clark, as follows: “When I wrote my blog, I was quoting several news articles that I found online. No, I did not ask the fire department for public records, but I was basing my opinion on what I had read in those articles. If you feel that the information I obtained was incorrect or not factual, I will be more than happy to publish a column in your words as a rebuttal. If you want to present copies of any documents or public records backing up your claims, I will publish those as well. As for my column, if I ever find that my opinion is based on facts that I later learn are erroneous, I will always issue a public apology. If that turns out to be the case with this particular column, I would not hesitate to do so. Please advise if you want me to publish your comment below as is under this story, or if would prefer to write a column in your own name, which I will publish on your behalf.
Thank you,
Stephanie Kienzle”
Mr. Clark did write back to me a very nice letter, but he did not specify whether or not he wished to publish anything further. I advised him that I did not request a copy of the report from MDFD.
I reviewed the articles that I did research, however. The article in militant.com stated that Mr. Clark was one of three firefighters involved and all were suspended with pay pending an investigation. The article in the Sun Sentinel (http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2001-09-20/news/0109200013_1_fire-truck-fire-station-firefighters), also alluded that Clark was on the firetruck, stating, “Clark says Fernandez and union representatives never spoke to him or the two other firefighters for their side of the story before going public. Clark, who works at another fire station but was working overtime in Opa-locka, said a fellow firefighter who drove the fire truck removed the flag after telling Clark that it was hanging haphazardly and could cause a problem.”
If, in fact, Mr. Clark was NOT involved in the incident, I urge him to contact the editors of both articles and set the record straight.