Khari O’Connor. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Providence firefighter Khari O’Connor feels he did nothing wrong when he raised his fist in support of Ferguson, Missouri protestors marching outside the Providence Public Safety complex November 25.
“I also heard the protestors at that time that my hand went up, they were chanting, “All black lives matter”. All black lives do matter, and they do. But in my eyes, all lives matter,” said O’Connor.
He spoke with reporters at his home in Providence, even as Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said O’Connor’s actions were under investigation.
He was videotaped from the street during the protest, raising a fist through an upstairs window at the Public Safety complex. Police complained the action encouraged the crowd, making their job of maintaining order more difficult.
O’Connor would not discuss any disciplinary actions or proceedings, but said he remains an active duty member of the fire department, still scheduled to work. He said he has not been shunned by his fellow firefighters.
“From my coworkers, no. Like I said, it’s a brotherhood, and it’s not what we’re about,” he said during a wide-ranging interview at his home in Providence.
O’Connor said he came forward, in part, after what he called slanderous suggestions on a news website that he raised his fist in response to the burning of an American flag during the protest against the failure of a Missouri grand jury to indict a white police Ferguson officer in the shooting death of a black teenager.
He said that his is a military family, his father and uncle both served in Vietnam.
“They both almost lost their lives in Vietnam. I would never go against what my father and my uncle and my grandfather put their lives on the line for, nor will I ever go against all the troops that we still have, still to this day, serving,” O’Connor said.
