Posted on 06/30/2009 9:52:25 AM PDT by lex33
BY JESSE JACKSON New Haven, Conn., is a city in which African Americans and Hispanics account for nearly 60 percent of the population; yet, by order of the U.S. Supreme Court, the city must be served --"as it was in the days of undisguised discrimination -- by a fire department in which members of racial and ethnic minorities are rarely seen in command positions."
Today's ruling is deeply flawed and should not be the law of the land.
In assessing claims of race discrimination, "context matters." Grutter vs. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306, 327 (2003). In June 2003, the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in higher education admission decisions. In that case, Justice Ginsburg stated what was obvious to civil rights activists: The law ought to be able to distinguish between the use of race to include a historically discriminated against racial or ethnic group and the use of race to exclude. Despite her instruction, we have not learned the lesson.
Context does matter. Six years ago, the U.S. military led the way in support of affirmative action, arguing that the nation was less safe without black and brown officers. For the U.S. military, integration of officer ranks was as important a job qualification as knowing military history or aerospace engineering. We think it matters in other contexts, as well.
What has bedeviled us these last 30 years since Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke is the notion that any pen-and-paper test can reveal everything you need to know in order to assess a candidate's ability to lead. And so we persist with the legal fictions that every qualification can be numerically assessed and that history counts for nothing.
The decision does not address the big questions about affirmative action, namely: How much may white employees be inconvenienced in order to rectify centuries of past discrimination? When, if ever, is it appropriate to use affirmative action to create a diverse workplace?
Affirmative action is justified on the premise that diversity is good for us as a society, not that diversity rectifies centuries of wrongdoing. Our penchant for rugged individualism and laissez-faire survival of the fittest seduces us into believing that every person is entitled to every benefit society has to offer and that no individual should pay a price for the greater good of the society as a whole.
Justice Ginsburg says there was adequate evidence in the record that the New Haven test was flawed and resulted in bias against black and brown firefighters. Had that evidence been credited, the test could have been revised to be fairer. Surely New Haven could have devised a test or selection device, without a similarly undesirable racial effect, that also served the employer's legitimate interest. Undoubtedly, a critical mass of white firefighters would have scored well enough on such a test to be promoted. But the court today decides that no white person need suffer any inconvenience to produce a fairer workplace.
This reasoning depends on a hyperindividualistic interpretation of American rights. Blacks were enslaved as a group. They were segregated as a group. They were held in economic and political subjugation in the South for decades following Reconstruction as a group. But now that we have reached the enlightened 21st century, remedies for these crimes cannot take the group stigma against blacks into account. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution protects individuals and not groups. We disagree.
Perhaps it is time to scrap the entire legal analysis of voluntary efforts to address discrimination. Perhaps we should permit employers and schools to devise plans to foster inclusion that straightforwardly account for past discrimination.
For hundreds of years, white males have enjoyed more than 95 percent of the best jobs, the best housing, the best incomes, the best health care, whether they were best suited or not. When small steps are taken to level the playing field, the court determines that no inconvenience to white applicants is permissible. The firefighters had no "right" to be promoted, merely an opportunity.
Is it possible that none of the blacks taking the test were adequately prepared? Why might that be the case?
WOW! Thank you so much Atty. Jackson... when did you take the bar anways? Oh, what do you mean you never did?
Well, at least you have a law degree from a bar approved program right? You don’t?
Well at least you have always been on the right side of the law.... what do you mean you were arrested in 2007?
Anyways, at least you have always been tolerant and understanding of all minority groups... wait, aren’t you the guy who called New York Hymie town?
This guy is such a joke
These particular firefighters had no opportunity, because the promotions test was thrown out and nobody got promoted.
What?
But, as Jessy Jackass well knows, it will reveal if the test-taker can read!
The greater good?
Would you want your loved ones in a fire where the rescue was
being managed by the affirmative action appointee? or by the
best person prepared and qualified for the job?
We are witnessing the impact of affirmative action at the highest level. History books will be written about the damage done. What will it take to wake people up?
When will the first Obamaville open up?
When did the rev get a law degree?
My question exactly. Has anyone explored how much everyone studied for this test. If the test material is that important to qualifying leadership for Fire Depts., then we better not be throwing the baby out with the bath water...whatever the heck that means...
This speech came out waaaaayy too fast.
Jesse must have known it was going to be struck down by the Supremes, and he was well-prepared to advance his constant agenda of affirmative action for people who cannot pour pee out of a boot with the directions written on the heel.
He has a lifetime of extortion of large corporations, Someday soon, he will find there is a wall he cannot butt his head against. Going to be hard to figure out who done him in.
that and, so I have heard, the test was designed by a company famous for making racially neutral tests... but you never hear that anywhere
just like how the liberal media tries to hide the fact that it wasn’t just whites but whites AND hispanics who passed
when hell froze over
There is free education in the USA from Kindergarten thru the 12th grade.
There are a plethora of scholarships beyond that.
There is an entire chain of “Negro Colleges”, which for many, many years, have had their blatant ads pleading for contributions.
IF the ‘white men” of America hold the best jobs- the others have no one but themselves to blame.
Personal responsibility is a good place to start.
IF those who decide that going to school isn’t very much fun- dealing drugs + joining gangs is more important-spreading sperm - taking no respinsibility for the child that follows- I could go on and on.
They get the same books as the white.
They sit in the same classrooms—when they even go to school.
They have the same lighting and heat for comfort.
They have the same teachers and hear the same words.
IF they do nothing productive with it- that is NOT my fault. NOR is it the fault of the whites who work hard and progress upward in their chosen professions.
I certainly don’t want a fireman trying to help me who got his job only thru affirmative actions.
Same thing for a policeman- sheriff- or a judge-—ALL the way up to and including the Supreme Court!!!! Sotomayor does not belong on the court.
WOW! Thank you so much Atty. Jackson... when did you take the bar anways? Oh, what do you mean you never did?”
Did Jackson ever finish divinity school and get proper ordination?
He calls himself REVEREND—but has he EVER had a congregation? A church?
All he seems to have is the bully pulpit.
Does he own his own home- or is he still living in an apartment like he did when he was running for President...?
God has a special box he is going to put Jesse into, IMO.
Hey, Jesse, why don’t you just “shuddup?” You are tiresome and we are tired of hearing from you. Your days as an activist “reverend” are over. Time to retire to Obama’s Retirement Home for marxist/socialist pain in the azz agitators...I’ll help ya pack.
..... Methinks the career race pimp doth protest too much.
One question I’d like to ask the good reverend Jackson: How many generations must go by before the right to claim special preference on the grounds of historical inequity expires?
Maybe they should use a picture book for those who can’t read the test? Something along the line of “the little fire engine that couldn’t!!!
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