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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

New York firefighter tests: Political correctness run amok

Posted on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 12:39 PM

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It is fact universally acknowledged that the New York City Fire Department is a strongly Irish institution. Look up the Fire Department dead on 9/11, and over half are Irish names.

There are still neighborhoods in New York where the Irish kids grow up dreaming of joining the Fire or Police Departments. It is a noble tradition, lasting back to the first time the Irish flooded to these shores.

Now comes a federal judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, who ruled last week that the city has intentionally discriminated against black and minority applicants in Fire Department tests.

Garaufis said the high minority fail rate on the test was not a “one-time mistake or the product of benign neglect. It was a part of a pattern, practice and policy of intentional discrimination against black applicants that has deep historical antecedents and uniquely disabling effects.”

“Black and other minority firefighters have been severely underrepresented,” he said, calling it a “persistent stain on the Fire Department’s record.”

The judge found that the department continued to use an exam that consistently discriminated against minorities.

I seriously doubt if the men at the top of the New York Fire Department design tests to keep people out. It sounds like political correctness run amok to me.

Garaufis had previously ruled that the Fire Department used a test in 1999 and 2002 that had a discriminatory effect on black applicants.

But Newsday reported the following about the 1999 test:

"In the 1999 test, about 90 percent of white applicants had a passing score, but only 61.2 percent of black and 77 percent of Hispanic test-takers passed, according to the complaint."

That’s apparently a "1.0 standard deviation difference between whites and blacks, which is typical for most kinds of cognitive tests. It’s what we see nationally on the LSAT," according to one expert.

That is certainly not grounds for accusation of racial bias, is it? Is this political correctness run amok again?

It may seem so. After all, the NYFD has the greatest reputation in the world, and who cares what color the firefighter is who comes to save your life?

What you want to know is that he or she is able to do the lifesaving job, not the color of their skin.

That is what admission standards should be about -- competency, not race.

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Cherishfan | Jan 28, 2010, 11:49 AM EST

There's also family tradition to consider. Might there be more incentive for a person to become a firefighter or join the police force if other relatives have done so? Knowledge of the job can also be handed down this way. In the end, we want the most qualified whomever they are. We depend on these people!

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Verum68 | Jan 27, 2010, 10:08 PM EST

Without seeing the test how could any of us meaningfully comment on the Judge's ruling? I learned a long time ago that judgements should be based on facts. I don't have a copy of the test and I doubt my fellow comment writers do.

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patconrey | Jan 27, 2010, 07:17 PM EST

My son, Patrick is a Firefighting Lt. in Clearwater, FL and he cares not of color or sex of his brothers and sisters but insists that they are physically able to do the job because he puts his life in their hands. By the way he is 42 runs marathons and is on his way to a competition to race up the stairs of the Empire State. building early next month, nad is totally dedicated to the fire service and those who serve therein!

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Sammig47 | Jan 27, 2010, 07:00 PM EST

The judge should've looked at the Supreme Court decision of the New Haven firefighters case that overturned exactly this decision in the lower courts.

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Maoleitigh | Jan 27, 2010, 06:10 PM EST

political correctness run amok

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JerryLynch | Jan 27, 2010, 06:02 PM EST

Maybe the tryouts and draft selections of the National Basketball Association are tipped toward African-Americans? When I call the NYPD/NYFD, I want to have the confidence that the heroes arriving to save my property and the lives of my family were trained by my tax dollars appropriated to the most qualified applicants, regardless of their ethnicity.

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borefield | Jan 27, 2010, 05:21 PM EST

The Liberal Judges still like to make a name for themselves by furthering Black and Hispanic bias in the NYPD/NYFD. The Irish were considered the lowest of the low as human beings at one time. They had to pull themselves up by their own boot straps. There were no social programmes to aid them, no one to defend them from discrimination. They were on their own. It would serve the Judge better if he made their success an example for the Blacks and Hispanics to follow.

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MikeyMurphs | Jan 27, 2010, 04:11 PM EST

As an Irish-American, who wants to become a member of the FDNY I just pray that I will not be denied because I am WHITE. The city must fight this and expose this nonsense for what it is !

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philkennedy | Jan 27, 2010, 12:32 PM EST

Competency is all that should matter, not race, not sex, not religion, not colour, not age!!!

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TaranOconner | Jan 26, 2010, 10:44 PM EST

'Judge' Garaufis is a Doofus. Typical Judge material---Big Fish in a small pond syndrome. They're everywhere in the Judicial System. Someone gets a little 'Power' and they go crazy trying to change the World. Sound Familiar???

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JosephOCasey | Jan 26, 2010, 07:16 PM EST

Thank you for coming out against political correctness. This is a good day.

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Madeleine | Jan 26, 2010, 06:12 PM EST

Instead of raising the standards for minorities they are lowering our standards, I don't think thats helping the minorities. I would be insulted if I were a minority, they are always saying they are equal, this is not equality, its making allowances for stupidity and its dangerous or all ocncerned.

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