Our Hero
JEFF HARRIS, JR.
Jeff Harris, Jr.
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"Respect commands itself and it can neither be given nor withheld when it is due" - - - Eldridge Cleaver .
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Our Voices OnLine is proud to present Jeff Harris, Jr., outstanding firefighter, community leader and loving husband to wife Laura & father of 3 children, Lauren 15, Joy 10 and Jeffrey 6. Jeff is truly a respected & admired Hero of his community and Our Voices OnLine. For 22 dedicated years of service, Jeff has been fighting fires & saving lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, giving back to the community, where he was born and raised by his loving parents Jeff Harris, Sr. and Omeria (Kennedy) Harris both deceased. Graduate of Walnut Hills High School in 1978, Jeff attended the University of Cincinnati, Ohio College of Applied Science receiving a Procter and Gamble Mechanical Engineering Associates Degree, Co-Op Program.
Jeff has been a member of the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters for 18 years and is now serving his second term as President. In addition, he is the Director of the North Central Region of the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters and the Co-Chairman of the Ohio Firefighters Benevolent Fund. Also, Jeff has been fill-in host for several local radio talk shows and made several Cable Television appearances.
Acknowledged for his dedicated service as a firemen and outstanding community service, Jeff has received many awards through out his career, such as the 1991 Leon Evans Presidents Award from the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters Association, 1995 Partners in Education Recognition from the City of Cincinnati, 1995 Community Service Award from the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters Association, 1996 Merit Award from the Rotary Club of Cincinnati, 1996 Special Recognition Award from the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters Association, 2002 Certificate of Recognition from the Urban League Guild of Greater Cincinnati and the 2002 Ambassadors Award from the Dayton Ohio Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Since 1980 Jeff has been employed with the City of Cincinnati. Previously he worked downtown as a Bomb Technician and Fire Recruit Investigator. Now he is stationed in the Over-the Rhine area and has been there since 1994.
Our Voices was fortunate to ask Jeff several interview questions helping us gain further insight on Jeff the man, the dedicated firefighter, and father...
What do you like best about being a firemen? "Interacting with the community. I work at what has been the busiest firehouse in Cincinnati up until 2001, so community contact has been a premium for me."
Are you the only Black person at your firehouse? "No, there are 4 other Black firefighters in my firehouse, one is female. In Cincinnati there are 270 Black firefighters of 815 total firefighters."
Tell us a little about the city of Cincinnati? "Cincinnati has its issues. It is racially and culturally divided. Agendas get in the way of progress. When we all decide that we each need one another to survive, only then will things improve. Cincinnati is not much different from most other metropolitan cities in America."
What challenges have you had to face being African-American on the job? "My challenges have been great. As an Executive Board member of the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters Association for most of my career, I have not been the most popular person amount the majority members of the fire department. Pushing for inclusion and diversity is a change that meets great resistance because it is hard for either side to see the other point of view. I challenge myself to see the other point of view. I challenge others to change their point of view."
Could you share your thoughts or any comments on the 9-11 tragedy? "It was a tragedy. I attended the memorial service for the 13 Black firefighters that died. I was still in New York City the day after the memorial when the Airbus crashed in Jamaica Bay. I was afraid that it was happening again. I think everyone was. I couldn't get a flight home until the next day."
Who is your hero and why? "My son Jeffrey is my hero. Jeffrey is very smart and very active. If he doesn't focus he gets off track and gets in trouble. Jeffrey continues to try to stay focus and when he does he is something special! My wife Laura is also my hero. She has the ability to organize and she is so task oriented. I need the positive attitude that she has all of the time. I have a whole family of heroes."
We would like to end our featured article on Jeff by sharing with you his insightful and thought-provoking comments about Our Voices OnLine, the Our Heroes segment and the plight of the Black people in America......
"I think Our Heroes is a great segment of the African-American story. The emergency service in America is vastly underrepresented by African-Americans. In the fire service, for example, less than 13% of all firefighters in America are Black. We must continue to tell our story. To fully understand our story we must first know the story of our mothers and fathers who wanted but could not have the jobs that we now are able to obtain. We must know what they wanted for us and what they would expect us to want for our children. We must know what hardships our grandparents went through during the Civil War Era, that transitional time between official slavery and the unofficial slavery of sharecropping and peonism. We must know their contributions to this country, that have gone unnoticed and untaught in American History. We must know the story of our great grandparents who tried to hold on to their culture, their story their pride and unity, but were stripped of all of that, treated worse than cattle and made to believe that till death was all they had to look forward to. We must know that less than 400 hundred years ago our great great grandparents endured the middle passage, the African Diaspora (displacement of our People) that has scarred the Continent of Africa, Europe, the Americas and the world. We must know that Africa and our ancestors before all of that were leaders and teachers of civilization. They taught the Greeks and Romans what his story leads you to believe Africans were not capable of teaching. Listen to our story, because if you don't know your history you will have no hope or vision for your future!"
If you would like to contact Jeff, send email to jeffcafa@aol.com . Please share with us your thoughts about our new segment, Our Heroes, any ideas or people you would like to see showcased here. We want to know what you think. Email us at tell@ourvoicesonline.com
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