Posted on 05/14/2011 4:32:09 PM PDT by TheConservativeCitizen
JUSTICE SERVED?
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Chicago Fire Department must hire 111 black applicants who passed a firefighters entrance exam 16 years ago and pay millions of dollars to thousands more who took and passed the same test.
Was justice served?
An attorney for the group said that the 111 jobs would be filled from applicants who passed the 1995 test and that their pensions would be adjusted as if they’d been firefighters since 1995.
Attorney Joshua Karsh also said that 6,000 other blacks who also passed the test will divide “tens of millions of dollars” that would have been paid to 111 firefighters from 1995 until today.
The 1995 test was intended to measure an aptitude for firefighting. Officials indicated that they would randomly hire the top 1,800 who scored 89 or better. Because only 11 percent of black candidates scored 89 or better, the overwhelming number of applicants hired from the test were white.
As a result of the ongoing court challenges to the 1995 test, the city didn’t offer another one until 2006. What did they change? The new test was given on a pass/fail basis – ALL applicants – not just the top ones – were processed randomly.
Maybe that’s fine for firefighters – maybe it’s not; I’m not an expert on the requisite skills of firefighters. Doctors? Engineers? America’s schools and universities?
Hopefully, the playing field will be leveled before we have to find out the hard way.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2719685/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2719529/posts
7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals states you have to hire blacks who are less qualified then other applicants and pay them millions of dollars in lawsuit fees.
The color of one’s skin is more important than one’s aptitude and intelligence according to the court.
“Fire Department must hire 111 black applicants who passed a firefighters entrance exam 16 years ago...”
Are they going to repeat the physical tests or is the recruit who 16 years later is 40lbs. overweight, 16 years older and lacking the strength of a younger man overlooked for political correctness?
Now who would have believed that this could happen in a northern city such as Chicago. After all, these things only happen in the South. Why down here below the Mason-Dixon Line, we still have to have a federal judge approve the closure of schools for budget purposes and also changes to the curriculum at most of the schools in predominately minority neighborhoods for fear that there will not be equality.
If this discrimination thing happened in the fire department, perhaps it is happening in other governmental institutions. Now how in the hell did this get by our “Community Organizer-in Chief” during his tenure in Chicago? Can he get anything right?
Should they appeal this? Frankly, I’m not at all sure what SCOTUS would do at this point. They’ve all gone mad.
Can some of those be white guys covered with soot?
Sorry for the off-color humor...
Brace yourselves for the next Great Chicago Fire, Windy Citizens.
“Court: Chicago Must Hire 111 Black Firefighters”
Does it matter if they are qualified or is being black qualification enough?
Unless it was proven the selection process was rigged, or was outside of statistical probability.......take it to the SCOTUS. That will stop everything. They might not have had the best system of selection, but if it was random......it was a system nonetheless.
Did the legal argument include the public bearing the tax burden on an honest, however imperfect system?
Awesome. What will be the impact on a city of having 111 fire fighters who will absolutely do jack s#$t?
WooHoo, hit the lottery!
This is why I never choose minority physicians for my healthcare. Even though there may be some fine minority doctors on the list, there’s a huge chance they’re there via affirmative action. It’s not fair to those who are wonderful, but until the whole a.a. thing is done away with, people will always have questions. Respectable, competent professionals of all races should abhor affirmative action.
Good Question
The real tail kicker is that in 2001, a labor arbitrator ruled that the city discriminates against whites when it promotes a lower-scoring minority over a white. (Fran Spielman, “City ordered to promote white firefighters”, Chicago Sun-Times, Apr. 14, 2001). In 2002, a federal jury found that the 1986 test was fair, and that the city discriminated by promoting lower-scoring minorities over whites, awarding millions. (AP, May 18, 2002).
Given the recent decision by the 7th Circuit - diametrically opposed to earlier rulings in jury trials, they would appear to put the city in an impossible position. That is other than just being an open checkbook for the flavor of the day. Between the two rulings, the city is on the hook for over $800 million.
I don’t like making calls on little evidence, but from what I’m reading, these people are being chosen for their skin color, not their ability to do the job...and as a current volunteer firefighter, that’s dangerous for the city they’re supposed to protect.
Keep your ears and eyes open. If, in the future, we start hearing about poor firefighting service in Chicago, we’ll know what the cause was.
Everything’s about race now. We have become the most racist Country in history. We are obsessed with race! we are approaching insanity.
Yeah, this case should be appealed.It will lose in the Supreme Court. There was no racial discrimination. It’s obvious.
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