You ain't kin...
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the US is far from a cosmopolitan society.
Several cultural, social, religious, economic, regional, and ethnic groups operate everyday across the nation with the exclusion of the others.
I think your position that 1/2 million going into city coffers could help expand FDNY EMS in any meaningful capacity. Most municiple organizations operate nowhere near the fiscal and operational standards of private organizations.
This is not always a bad thing either. Especially when the private organization can bring superior good or services to those seeking it or exceed the minimal government standards.
Would you rally against an oil company that prepared for spill response and mitigation prior to a major leak? Of course not.
These "volunteer" organizations exist for many reasons. If there wasn't something for them to do, they wouldn't exist. All the people I have talked to from FDNY EMS don't have much good to say about the employment conditions. I do not think it is the panacea you make it out to be.
What is different from a volunteer group in NYC than a volunteer group in Gorgia, Wyoming, Arizona, or any other place that has volunteer EMS agencies? Should we make them become professional or close down? Who will provide EMS? Who will pay for the places that have no money for this?
You seem to be a bit new to EMS. Many just starting out have a grand idea of what EMS is, or should be, but not really a grasp on what it actually is.
Should you be able to be hired without meeting social or ethnic criteria? For certain, but why would you want to? You would always be the odd person out. It would always be a you vs. the agency battle. What would you get for all of that headache? A minimum wage job?
Some cultures do require considerable sensitivity. There are ones that will let a man or woman die because there is not a doctor of the same sex to examine them. There are religions who do not see modern medicine the same way most in the West do. They want to be treated by their values, not by others. Some of them would rather die than compromise their values, probably similar to how you feel about yours.
If they want to set up special services to see to their own needs, why stop them?
If you are mad because their hobby gets them things you want, then do what you need to do to join, or find someplace else. It seems their community is paying for their hobby. Your community is not paying for your career. Their ethnocentrism has created a better life for thier group than yours has created for you. Envy sucks.
There are plenty of EMS jobs today. Many want paramedics, what they are saying is the 120 hours an EMT has is not enough to be a capable care provider. That they don't want to pay for that level of service.
Just like in many other professions, when the job market dries up in your part of the world, if you want the same job you have to move or find another profession to stay.
The choice is really yours, but if a job is what you seek, going around trashing services (even if they deserve it) on your spare time isn't going to get you one.
But the rest stands...white protestant male predominantly because the ladies belong home edumacatin' the chilluns. Anything other than a branch of protestantism is frowned upon around here.
