Tracy Lewis knocked down every obstacle in her path to become only the second black woman promoted to the rank of lieutenant in FDNY history.
“You encounter resistance every day, but I can’t let that stop me from going forward,” Lewis said Wednesday during a promotion ceremony at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. “I worked very hard for this. I studied very hard for this. And it was just a matter of when this day would come.”
Lewis, a 17-year FDNY veteran from Engine Co. 222 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said she has overcome doubts from her male colleagues.
“They’re wondering whether or not you can do the job,” the 41-year-old trailblazer said. “But if you’ve been through the academy and you’ve proven yourself there, that should be enough. I come to the firehouse and I do what was taught to me.”
One man who never doubted Lewis is her bursting-with-pride dad, Clive Williams. He attended Wednesday’s ceremony.
“Tracy’s always been about helping others, so I’m not surprised that she made it to this point,” a beaming Williams said. “I hope she’ll continue to move on.”
There are just 41 women on the FDNY’s force of 10,500, officials said.
Lewis knows she’s standing on the shoulders of those who came before her.
“I feel that I owe it to them and the people coming after me to do the best I can to pave the way,” she said.
After being promoted Wednesday, she shared a joyous embrace with Ella McNair, who made history in 2002 when she became the first African-American woman to make lieutenant.
McNair retired in 2006, but that hasn’t stopped her from mentoring Lewis.
“This girl is more than deserving,” McNair said of Lewis’ rise. “And it’s about time. It’s about time. Long time overdue!”
In March, the FDNY settled a blockbuster discrimination lawsuit, agreeing to pay $98 million inback pay and benefits to minority firefighter hopefuls. The original suit was brought by the Justice Department in 2007, when the FDNY was about 90% white.
The force is still only about 5% black and 9% Hispanic, according to the FDNY. But 45% of the most recent graduating class, from June, were from minority groups.
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