Crushed under the onslaught of conservative commentators and cries of political correctness, a memorial to New York firefighters that would have celebrated unified efforts to save lives at the World Trade Center is dead.

Officials in the N.Y. fire department announced Jan. 18 that a 19-foot high bronze statue of a Black, Latino and White firefighter, which would have resembled a photo of three White firefighters who raised an American flag at Ground Zero, was cancelled.

The major complaint voiced by critics was that the sculpture would have rewritten history and was an example of political correctness run amuck.

The memorial wasn�t a monument to political correctness but would have represented how the department and, by extension, the city "came together" in the midst of a horrible event. It would have been a symbol, "something that stands for, represents, or suggests something else."

Given the popularity of the actual picture of the firefighters there is no chance that the statue, which would have been displayed outside fire department headquarters in Brooklyn, would have confused anyone or rewritten any history. It actually could have been a nice complement to the photo and could have helped illustrate a spirit that New Yorkers talked about.

It�s amazing that such controversy could follow a symbol of unity in a city where the reality is that over 90 percent of firefighters are white. The city�s Black and Latino population is more than 40 percent. It seems that a symbol of unity matters more than the reality that Blacks and Latinos still aren�t getting their fair share of fire department jobs. Though Lt. Paul Washington, president of the Vulcan Society, the Black firefighters organization in New York, wasn�t upset by the decision to tank the statue idea, the problem of two few Blacks in the New York Fire Department existed before Sept. 11 and exists afterward.

As in other professions, it took lawsuits across the country to get Blacks jobs with fire departments. Whenever the subject of more balanced hiring and promotions�let alone the words affirmative action�surface, union leaders argue against anything that would remedy past discrimination.

Given the history of the N.Y. fire department and others across the country, perhaps a lily-white monument would be appropriate. It would be a true representation of how racism and lack of opportunity persist and how unity remains a myth.