Denver hasn’t hired a black firefighter in five years, and Fire Chief Larry Trujillo wants to know why, reports the Rocky Mountain News. “It’s absolutely embarrassing,” he said. “There’s no excuse for it. We’ve done well with hiring Hispanics and others, but not as well as we would like.”
Denver has hired 272 firefighters since 1999. Fifty were Hispanic, two were American Indians, two were Asian, 10 were women and 203 were white males. Five black firefighters were hired in 1999 and 2000, but none since. In all, the department has 916 firefighters. Of those 54 are black, 196 are Hispanic, 14 are American Indians, nine are Asians, 37 are women and remaining 606 are white males.
Link: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3982015,00.html