Not a black and white issue
The question of race is again at the forefront as the Supreme Court finds for the white New Haven firefighters. It’s obviously not a straightforward case, but I seem to be allied with the plaintiffs in this case.
In 2003 New Haven subjected its firefighters to an exam that was intended to determine promotion. No blacks and only two Hispanics passed the exam and it was therefore subsequently thrown out. A group of white firefighters subsequently alleged discrimination and they have finally been vindicated by the Supreme Court decision.
My lawyer son pointed out that there are questions as to whether the test in any way addressed a firefighter’s ability to do his job. My response to that was that this question should have been raised BEFORE the test was given and not after the results were in.
This historic decision sets a precedent for hiring and promotion practices across the country, where reverse race discrimination is currently being claimed. It may also potentially affect the confirmation of Sotomayor. The liberal justices on the Supreme Count came out strongly against the decision, claiming that it completely deflates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
It would seem the important impact of this case should be to affirm that the CORRECT screening is being done for hiring and promotion. Perhaps changes need to be made to achieve that and to more fairly consider those in the running.
I would love to think there will be a day in this country when the race card will not be played one way or the other. But we still struggle with when to notice and when not.
posted by Barbara at 12:00 PM
5 Comments:
We struggle a lot. Or it wouldn't have gotten to the Supreme Court level, where it wasn't a unanimous decision.
I'm such a financial analyst. I don't know enough about the issue to speak to it, but I wonder whether the numbers fall. Was it a new or old test? Were the results typical? How many people were affected? I always want to know more.
Without commenting on the merits of the decision, there are a couple of things that I would like to illuminate:
1 - There were a number of Black firefighters who passed, however, so many people passed that New Haven would have promoted the highest passers among the group. That subset did not include any Black firefighters.
2 - Title VII of the amendment upon which this (and prior rulings) decision was reached required that entities consider the practical discrimantory implications of examinations even when there was no intent to discriminate.
3 - The two operative clauses of Title VII had a potential for conflict: Prohibition from discrimination based on race and Practical implication. Prior to this ruling they had historically been given equal weight. This ruling clarifies the standard and in effect imposes a new one.
It is not a question of disagreement between your position and mine, as I am not suggesting that one exists.
RR -- Thanks for your clarifications of this case and its issues. You must be a lawyer because you sound exactly like my son.
I'm sure even the Supreme Court struggled with their decision. I deeply admire Ruth Bader Ginsburg and given her adamant opposition to their ruling, I feel compelled to go back and read more.
I keep putting myself in the place of those affected one way or the other and then it's easier to understand exactly why it's not so clear cut.
The class I am taking now is about assessment. One of the things we are grappling with is bias. The major question of this test was whether it was biased. One of the reasons that many people use standardized tests is that they are heavily screened for testing bias... gender, race, culture, experience. The Larry P. case in California disallowed the placement of African Americans into special education on the sole basis of standardized testing, because it felt that the tests were not testing shared life experiences. Perhaps it is the same with the firefighter test. Did the test rely mainly on written tasks? Did the African American test takers have the same access to learn the skills that were being tested?
Testing should never be taken lightly.
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