Racism in American, Fairfax County Racism, Racism in Virginia, John Butler, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D, Willoughby Avenue, The Five Fifths, Five Fifths

A black fire chief faces hatred online before his first day on the job | The Washington Post

Read Time 2 min.

A black fire chief faces hatred online before his first day on the job | The Washington Post



[dropcap]Even[/dropcap] before he arrives in Northern Virginia, the new fire chief for one of the country’s wealthiest suburbs heard the reason some people don’t want him there: his skin color. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]

The hoods and robes of today’s bigots are anonymity and WiFi.

And in Fairfax County, the digital demagogues are in full terror mode, throwing all the hate they’ve got in a scathing, online attack on the incoming fire chief, John Butler.

Racism in American, Fairfax County Racism, Racism in Virginia, John Butler, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D, Willoughby Avenue, The Five Fifths, Five Fifths

“It’s a great time to be Black in America. If you can spell your name, you can get a free ride thru college, be fire chief or even President. Doesn’t matter if you’ve never achieved anything more than having dark skin!” That’s one of the mildest comments on the notorious, local online forum known as Fairfax Underground.

Never mind that Butler has been leading the fire department in Maryland’s Howard County for almost three years. Never mind that he has been a firefighter and paramedic for 25 years, did two tours of duty with the Marine Corps, was educated at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the University of Baltimore.