Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Supreme Court Discusses Race
I came upon an interesting article while scrolling through the New York Times “Race Topics Page” which, by the way, is pretty interesting as it organizes all race related articles in one place (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/race/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=race&st=cse). The article discussed the Supreme Court’s examination of an interesting situation. When firemen wish to be promoted each are made to take an official exam to determine if they are apt to be promoted. In New Haven, CT such an exam was administered to a group of firefighters and the results yielded no promotions for black applicants. At this point the test was thrown out. The New Haven fire department was attempting to follow federal discrimination laws and were put in a tough situation. Either way they faced a potential lawsuit on both sides. A class action lawsuit was filed by 18 firefighters, all white except for one Hispanic, who claimed discrimination. The question at hand is whether or not the city should be protected because they were attempting to comply with federal law. Justice Breyer asked a series of hypothetical questions to explore the topic. “What if, he asked, a university is dissatisfied with the number of female professors gaining tenure under its usual requirements? May it suspend the requirements? And what if Texas, which admits high school students graduating in the top 10 percent to its public universities, becomes dissatisfied with the resulting racial mix? May it switch to 15 percent?” His point was not that the answer to any of these questions would be a definite yes or no, but that the decision the court makes could have very far-reaching decisions. I think this case could have some big employment implications. Would the court not be implementing some form of affirmative action if they did not side with the white firefighters. Personally, I don’t know why the test was thrown out in the first place. It seems that in an attempt to carefully sidestep any issue of race the city decided that no promotions would be best. But although this approach does not technically directly discriminate against any races, it seems unfair for the firefighters who performed well on the test. In the words of their lawyer, ““It’s neutral because you throw it out for the losers as well as for the winners? That’s neutrality?” The situation is a sticky one; obviously the city feels that they should not take race into account at all, but federal law has certain employment statutes.
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First, I think it is really interesting that the New York Times has a "Race Topics Page." Although our nation is striving to be so politically correct these days, I think this fact in general shows that discrimination still exists among our society. What I find interesting from this issue between the firemen is how the government is trying to be so politically correct that it is creating a new reverse racism. There is no reason that the firemen should not be promoted if they did well on the test. If it just happens to be all white firemen, then they should look at the contributing factors that gave them some sort of advantage. To discard the test altogether disrespects the firemen that have worked to get there. Black, white, hispanic. I guarantee people in privileged white areas do better on the ACT/ SAT, because they have access to better education, but the test still stands. I honestly can't say what should be done to fix this, but I feel there are other more in depth issues that should be addressed before throwing out the test altogether.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like the guys who set this kind of test up need to find another job. I personally find affirmative action appropriate and necessary. The idea that everyone is on a level playing ground just isn't true. I have had more opportunities to be where I am than others, and I fully recognize that. However, there also comes a time when performance and equality in the workplace takes precedence. What we should, and have been, striving for in the workplace isn't so much about affirmative action as it is discrimination. In this particular situation it would seem that those who wanted to look at promotions needed a much more sophisticated way to examine a perspective employee's worth. It should be much more than a standardized test. What is one's overall value to the firefighter's force? There should be other criteria that allow for promotions. That would have avoided this mess. The Supreme Court would be smart to stay away from this type of case. It is a mess, not because affirmative action and discrimination laws are bad, but because those who are in positions of power (employers, etc) screw it up. The Supreme Court has repeatedly opined on this situation dating back, at least, to the University of Michigan cases. However, they are clear that affirmative action has a role and is legal when applied properly. I don't see how they will improve upon those laws. My only fear is that with the conservativism of the present Supreme Court (something that is not bound to last forever) they may try to knock down some of the earlier gains in this area.
ReplyDeleteId be interested to hear what the tests actually entailed, because that seems central in determining whether action was warranted or whether it truly did violate the rights of the other firemen. The structure under which agencies of the state are required to operate are very strict with regard to equal protection but the state also has a compelling interest in ensuring that firemen at any level in the chain of command are competent to serve at that level, so if the test reasonably found the african-americans unfit then it would be irrational to create a new test that would fail to measure that competency as well. This sort of situation is inherently awkward as any course of action can be perceived as racially motivated.
ReplyDeleteThe main dilemma that New Haven,CT fire department was that the department was being forced to have this test simply because it is a requirement for promotion but obviously, they have to respect that equal rights are given to all through the material of the test. After the results came out and no black firemen were going to be promoted I think that instead of throwing the test out, that test should have been examined to determine if it was in some way racist. The ones that passed the test should have been promoted regardless of race but the root of how and why it became racially discriminatory toward the Black firemen is the question that needs to be answered.
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