NORWALK, Conn. — A Norwalk firefighter is currently suspended from duty for one week without pay due to anti-Semitic comments.
On July 3, Lt. Pat St. Onge turned to a Jewish firefighter under his command and said Jewish people are dirty. St. Onge has apologized and quotes himself as saying to coworkers, “Hasidic Jews aren’t known for their hygiene.”
“This is a rare and isolated incident. Any complaint is investigated fully and will not be tolerated in the Norwalk Fire Department. Personnel issues are forwarded to the Director of Personnel and also the Board of Fire Commissioners,” Fire Chief Gino Gatto said.
The Fire Commission discussed the incident, he said.
‘How dirty they are’
Firefighter Alex Horelick reached out to Gatto on July 11 and described the incident, in an email provided to NancyOnNorwalk by Gatto on Tuesday.
Horelick was making breakfast for his shift on July 3 when a fellow firefighter turned to St. Onge and asked, “if the temporary shower/toilet trailer was part of our detail now that it was in station during renovations.” St. Onge replied “that ‘there was a service that comes to clean the trailer’. He then proceeded to express his concern about it because he ‘saw the guy cleaning the bathroom was Jewish and you know how dirty they are’,” Horelick wrote.
He continued:
“When the lieutenant made this statement he was looking directly at me and he is well aware that I am Jewish. It was a bizarre and awkward moment because aside from the negative prejudices that he was expressing towards Jewish people he was seemingly looking for my agreement with how ‘dirty’ ‘they’ are. The statement was made in a matter {of} fact tone and was not attempted to be comedic, teasing or any other type of communication other than a bigoted negative judgement {sic} on Jewish people. I, being dumbfounded, then asked the lieutenant ‘which ethnic group would you prefer clean your bathroom?’ To which he had no response.”“…I made it clear to the lieutenant that I was extremely unhappy with his comments and found them offensive. The other firefighters in the room were dumbfounded as well. If you were to attach these comments to any group – i.e. ‘a (fill in the blank) person cleans the bathroom, but you know how dirty those people are’ – any member of that group would have been extremely offended. That being said, the commonality of using ‘dirty Jew’ as an anti-Semitic insult and the historical context behind those words makes these statements even more appalling and the maliciousness of these comments unquestionable. The other Firefighters on shift with me that day who witnessed this told me they were shocked and appalled by his comments and immediately found them to be offensive.”
St. Onge had, months earlier, asked Horelick, “you wear those Jew curls.. right?,” Horelick wrote.
“I have since spoken to union president Ireland and Capt. Maggio to inform them of what transpired and that I refuse to work for an officer who spoke such negative, hurtful comments about Jewish people,” Horelick wrote. “Considering he said these remarks to my face it is fair to assume that he is capable of thinking and saying even worse things about Jewish people outside of work.
‘Immature’ comments
St. Onge wrote to Gatto on July 13 and confirmed Horelick’s version of the incident.
“During the station renovations, a handful of complaints were initially made about the cleanliness and serviceability of these bathrooms,” St. Onge wrote. “As the subject of the bathrooms came up in conversation I made a statement either exactly or very close to the following: ‘Well, Hasidic Jews aren’t known for their hygiene’ in regards to the delivered cleanliness of the bathroom. I was aware at the time, that FF Horelick was Jewish and did not put any consideration into the fact that this was first of all, a narrow and ignorant statement, but that it might also offend FF Horelick. I understand that this ignorant statement painted the picture that I believed that Jewish people are dirty. After having spoken with others about this both in and outside of the FD, including FF Horelick, I realize that this has much more historical significance than I could have imagined.”
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law states, “Jews have long been described, literally or metaphorically, as carriers of a physical defect, deformity or disease, often associated with ugliness, weakness, dirt and excrement… the phrase “dirty Jew” has long been common among anti-Semites, and stereotypes of ‘Jewish odor’ were once commonplace.”
St. Onge wrote that he immediately wished he could retract the “narrow, ignorant, insensitive, judgmental, and immature” comments that offended Horelick and apologized to him. He also noted that “being a supervisor, it erodes my ability to do my job. I am expected to be a voice of maturity and reason, and direction.”
He called the ensuing conversation with Horelick “an overall win in conversations of diversity.”
“I was grateful to be able to have had an adult conversation about it, because I surely didn’t feel that he owed me that favor,” St. Onge wrote. “…. I encouraged him to follow through with a formal complaint.”
St. Onge wrote:
“I made an ignorant, narrow, thoughtless statement based on a presumed stereotype of a culture that I do not understand. I cannot claim to have any understanding of the Jewish community or any religious belief for that matter, making it even more out of line to comment on. I do not have either the intelligence or education to have a well spoken conversation on religious views or history. My statement was in no way intended to be hateful or exclusive to anyone. It was an error in words, a lack of understanding, and a mistake in judgement for anyone at any level of an organization to make. I have not, and will not ever treat someone different based on race, ethnicity, age, religion or otherwise and I do not support those who do. It does not align with my values as a person, or as a supervisor. I would hope that personal work history and character references from all aspects of my life would verify this. I take full responsibility for what I said.”
St. Onge has been transferred to another station, Gatto said.
“This matter is now closed for us,” Gatto wrote. “The Lt. and the firefighter have worked out their differences.”
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