Comments on: U.S. Supreme Court takes up ‘reverse discrimination’ case

By: gary langwell

gary langwell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:13:43 +0000

I’m 60 years old ,I’ve done ok…
I am white ,never had any plantation owner relatives…
I have been discriminated against for being white a long time, lost many a job to minorities…
The only person that it is legal to discriminate against in the U.S. is the white male, think about it, get real , stand on your own two feet and quit blameing other people for your shourt comeings…
I hope the firefighters wern’t bought off…

By: clay

clay — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:28:27 +0000

“The appeals court panel concluded that city officials acted within the law when they threw out the test results. They were simply trying to fulfill their obligations under anti-discrimination laws when confronted with test results that produced a disproportionate racial impact, the panel said.”

18 individuals got in the way of the city trying to fulfill their obligations. Or at least one of the 27 individuals who tested did not do their part?

Why not just say we want to hire this number of people for this position and this number of people need to be of this specific race because we want the management to represent to the community it serves.

By: Dominick

Dominick — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:52:28 +0000

I have to admit, this is really stupid of the city. So what if most the people that passed were white. The color of your skin should have anything to due with failing a test. It is the people’s fault for not studying enough. And I would expect at this point in our history people shouldn’t think too much about a majority of whites passing the test. Kudos to them they desrved it for studying their asses off. Really this is stupid. You dont see me yelling out to the world that, “THERE WERE NO ASIANS MENTIONED AT ALL IN THIS ARTICLE AT ALL, AND THE ARTICLE MADE IT SOUND LIKE NO ASIANS PASSED THE TEST!” Honestly who really cares now-a-days if they didnt study, they dont deserve to pass. We shouldnt punish people who studied, its just not right. I understand the city’s view in wanting to be diverse but hey, maybe the city should start thinking of us all as one people rather than seperating us by our slight diferences like what our backgrounds are.

By: laura espinoza

laura espinoza — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:08:20 +0000

I believe the city should not have thrown out the tests. Sure, the people who passed the test are going to be upset. It only makes sense to feel that way after spending so much time/ effort/ money to pass only to have your test thrown out. If someone must pass the test to be considered for promotion then that’s exactly who should be considered. We cannot trade standard qualifications for racial diversity. That said, can’t the city just have all the people re-take a test? The people who passed the first time should still pass, if they are really qualified, and if the reason african americans didnt pass was because of bias from the test, they will have another chance.

By: Mandie Leon

Mandie Leon — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:45:42 +0000

Okay…hmmm. Well this case is crazy. Everyone should be treated equally regardless of age or race. If a certain amount of a minority race did not pass the test then those who did should take credit for the fact that they qualify for the promotion. They should’t have thrown the test away just because a certain race did not qualify. Its unconstituitional

By: Ronny Carbone

Ronny Carbone — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:03:28 +0000

I find it hard to believe that race interferes with skill. You need to know the requirements to pass the test, and just because you’re white, doesn’t mean you know the material better. If anything, the blacks or mexicans getting their score requirements lowered is unfair is discrimination against whites. There should be a set requirement to join the firefighter crew, physical or mentally no matter what. Its unfair to make it easier for blacks to join, because if they don’t know the material they shouldn’t be trying to save people. Lowering the requirements will risk lives. In the case involving Frank Ricci..he spent 8-13 hours a day studying and still failed. He didn’t fail from not studying enough, didn’t fail because of his race, he failed because he didn’t understand or couldn’t grasp the topic.

By: LuLu Banuelos

LuLu Banuelos — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:56:34 +0000

i don’t get it. the test was given out equally. Some races didn’t pass.
but in the end i just want capable firefighters who won’t let me die. i don’t care what race they are.
so they decided to perfectly capable firefighters? what a waste.

By: Melody Chang

Melody Chang — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:55:30 +0000

So, what I’m reading from this article is that there was a test distributed to the fire department so that they could get a chance for a promotion, and for this test to work “supposedly” they passed it out to all the races so that everyone could get an equal opportunity to get a chance for a promotion. The test givers wanted everything to be equal but when it turned out the outcome wasn’t what they wanted, some caucasians and two hispanics. They threw everything out like it didn’t even happen. So thats really neglecting those who actually passed the test. Okay, so they gave a test to see if some have the knowledge to pass and get the chance to be promoted, it is the fault of the ones that dont pass that dont get the promotion, its their own fault. Also, the fire department said that they wanted a more diverse department, more diverse races, but then how are they going to turn down those who also want to join the department also? Thats a form of discrimination against those of the same race i guess you could say.

By: Rebecca Ehrnman

Rebecca Ehrnman — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:59:15 +0000

Discrimination is discrimination. Reverse discrimination, in my opinion, doesn’t make sense. Anybody can discriminate against anybody. Calling it reverse discrimination is like a double negative. Or so it seems.
I know a lot about certain races not getting specific jobs, because my mom works at a staffing agency. She works for companies and finds them workers. However, no matter who she finds, the company can turn them down. The company can also be specific about what races they want. Illegal? Yea. But it’s not stopping them. Messed up? Very.
It’s sad and unfair what happened to these men who tried to become firefighters, but discrimination has been around along time. It doesn’t make it right, and you can fight it all you want, but not a whole is done about it.
But still, I think reverse discrimination is a dumb term.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/reverse-discrimination

ANYONE, can be discriminated against, and it happens everyday.

By: Aron

Aron — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:59:15 +0000

I think that the anti-discrimination laws should have been disregarded in this case. They clearly state that the test was created in a way to help minorities receive higher tests scores but that clearly didn’t happen. They obviously didn’t want it enough to go out and study like the dyslexic firefighter did. The Caucasian firefighters had a stronger drive to do something that they loved and they were denied it because not enough people of color were going to be admitted to higher ranks.

On the other side, I can clearly understand why they decided to throw out the tests. This world that we live in now is ridiculous. Not enough African Americans passed the test so they were not eligible for the promotion. A minister was already talking about how there are not enough people of color in the higher ranks. If white guys were to be promoted and African Americans were to be left behind, people would definitely start bitching even though they clearly were not qualified. People assume that you are being racist but they don’t see the whole picture which is none of the African Americans received high enough test scores after the test was made easier. They should have taken more initiative and studied harder if they really wanted the job. I would probably throw the tests out too just so I wouldn’t have to deal with problems in the future.

Even though it is pretty f’ ed up for the firefighters who did pass the test, its just the kind of world we live in now. People of color need to be in the higher ranks of companies so they don’t get sued. It is just a lot easier to throw tests out than to deal with discrimination law suits. Once someone saw an all white firefighting crew of captains and lieutenants and then lower ranking African Americans, someone would definitely stir up some trouble for the fire department. It is just a lot easier to have people of color in higher ranking jobs than have to deal with law suits.

But then again, these laws do need to be there because there still are a lot of people who discriminate because of someone’s skin color. In this case, the white firefighters should get the promotions they deserve and someone of color can come along and grab a higher ranking job when there is available space. It is too easy to turn things into something they aren’t so its just a lot easier to go with what needs to be done. In this case, African Americans are needed to comply with certain laws and that is what will be done to avoid problems. The firefigters should get their promotions even though it was not a promised thing. It probably won’t happen but that would be nice if it did. It’s an unfair world out there but these things happen so I guess people just have to deal with it.