Last month, a black firefighter in New Haven named Michael Briscoe decided to sue city hall, claiming the promotions exam had a disparate impact on blacks. No blacks scored high enough to qualify. He contended that giving more weight to the written part of the test over the oral was a disadvantage to blacks. The written portion of the test was weighted 60 percent; the oral 40 percent. Briscoe scored higher on the oral than any other test taker.
After qualified firefighters asked for promotions last month, a group of black firefighters tried to block the move. The group said if New Haven “makes such promotions without inquiring into the exams’ validity, then it is making a race-conscious decision to promote those whites who used their skin color as a central, divisive basis for their lawsuit. Regardless, at this juncture, it is clear that the city has used race as a strawman in all sorts of ways to attempt to benefit itself, to the detriment of others.”
I noted the strange reasoning, including the implication that skin color is not a legitimate basis for a lawsuit. Racial discrimination claims, by definition, are based on allegations that a person or group infringed on the plaintiff’s rights because of the plaintiff’s skin color.
The city’s fire commission approved the promotions anyway. Yesterday, the group filed a motion in federal court yesterday, asking the court to stop the promotions.
Will the legal wrangling in New Haven ever end? Perhaps if the federal judge denies the black firefighters’ motion. Speaking only for myself, personally, me, and no one else, the low scorers should take the loss like men, drop the suits, prepare for the next exam date, and do their best.
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