While both those gentlemen are fine writers, I think both of them kind of miss the point. I think there is still a place for affirmative action (AA), but this ruling was NOT about AA. It was about whether you can exclude a supposedly fair test (I’ll get to that in a minute) and punish those who passed it because no blacks did (I’d say monirities but two Hispanics passed). Which, by the way, when did Hispanics not count as a minority group?

As to the test, the ruling is a good thing because now the test MUST be certifed by New Haven, which means it can be examined by scholars and groups and whoever else to see if there were any unfair, biased, or otherwise improper parts to that test. This review of the test can only be a good thing in my mind, because it will give proper review to the quality of it. If there was something wrong with it, that should come out.

But AA is still needed. The failure of these black firefighters is an opportunity to review all sorts of training and educational things within their department to discover a reason why this may have happened. Even if no black firefighters are promoted it can still be a beneficial and worthwhile test for the future. New Haven has a chance to make sure that all of it’s emergency personnel are getting the adequate career training needed to climb the ladder (pun intended).

If you take those two columns and mash them together, I think you will find something more realistic…

Affirmative action is nothing more than a euphemism for racial preferences. It is wrong in all circumstances. The fact that the proponents of affirmative action must obscure the true nature of the programs is strong evidence that deep down they also know the programs are deeply immoral.

In his book Affirmative Action around the World, Thomas Sowell lays out several characteristics of affirmative action in a number of countries.

1. The programs are sold by claiming to be about access. The explicatively claim to not provide for preferences but always evolve into nothing but a program of racial preferences.
2. They claim to be of very limited duration. Thurgood Marshal argued that racial preferences would only be needed for 5 years. Over 50 years later, the preferences are still going strong and the proponents want even more.
3. The preferences expand far beyond the original group. Originally, affirmative action was only for blacks. It is now for women, Hispanics, and numerous minorities who never experienced any discrimination in the United States.
4. The preferences predominately go the best off members of the favored classes. Preferences to the best schools in the country typically go to upper middle class black children and not to underprivileged poor children.
5. The name of the preferences is constantly changed to hide what is really going happening. Racial preferences, affirmative action, diversity, inclusiveness.

In addition to being morally repugnant and a violation of the constitution of the United States, the programs have the exact opposite of their intended effect. They galvanize resentment against the favored class. The incentive for the favored class to meet the same standards as everyone else is minimized. The country is far worse off with many slots in college and industry being filled by someone other than the best qualified. Also, the belief of the average person that they are being treated fairly is severely compromised.

There is a whole class of politicians, race hustlers, and beneficiaries who survive off of the government provided racial preferences. These parasites upon society will not give up their unearned favors without an extreme fight.

Only a liberal could be torn on the New Haven case. These guys took the test and passed. They should get their promotions, unless they somehow cheated or intimidated the black fire fighters. There’s no evidence of that, so this is a no brainer.

The fact no blacks passed does not mean discrimination occurred. If the test is fair, then you will see randomness in the results. Only a mathematically incompetent person would expect to see results always proportionate to the population’s racial pie chart.

Affirmative Action may have had a place, but it should go away now.

The thing that amazes me is: all the people taking the tests are born in, live in, and are educated in, the same identical country. Answers to the questions on the test are generic, basically. Ergo, all the people taking the test has had the identical opportunity to LEARN the anwers that are required in order to PASS the test. IF an individual does NOT take advantage of his/her environment and learn what everyone else is learning, since they are all exposed to the same identical world, then if failure is the end result of their participation in a test that is given to ALL, then they have no one to blame but themselves.
I have no sympathy for a person, no matter the color or anything else, that starts screaming ‘unfair, biased, slanted, geared towards’ a PARTICULAR race as a reason for their failure to LEARN what they needed to learn in order to be successful in passing the same identical test that everyone else took, and DID pass! Come on -
If you choose to live differently than anyone else, or look differently, or act differently, or study (if you do study) a different material or book, etc., and you expect to pass a test where the requirements are that you need to learn what everyone else is learning, and you fail, then whose fault is it? Its pretty basic - you need to study, learn the same dang things everyone else is expected to learn! No exceptions! It’s all for the same job, so why should YOU be treated differenly? The tests aren’t the problem, or the content therein, it’s the people taking the test that are the problem - just those certain ones that expect a free ride or to be given special priviledges! Why, what have you done to deserve special treatment? You didn’t come from a foreign nation to take this test - you are a native born individual in this country! Get the promotion on your own merits, not because you are calling it the same old garbage - racism! Lordy, I’m so sick and tired of hearing that stuff!

The firefighters that passed the test should be allowed to work, and get promotions. The firefighters who failed the test need to study harder….When did this get all messed up???

I feel like we live in a society of fragile people, made of glass. If you step on them a little too hard they crack. It’s like teachers who won’t use red ink anymore because it sends a negative message…ARE YOU KIDDING ME! If your teacher needs to mark an F on your paper it doesn’t matter what ink it is in. What should matter is that you got an F, which means you need to study harder. It doesn’t mean that (because you failed,) the test needs to be looked at for unfair questions.

When did we stop working hard in life and instead expect everything to be handed to us?

Purdy

You are assuming that those people whom seem to fail with test taking around the countries fire depts. are the same as those whom excel. They as a group tend to be different in dress, speech and manor of cultural behavior. They as a group tend to fill the empty cells in our nations prisons higher than the majority percentage wise. They as a group are far below in graduation rates. They as a group tend to have the highest STD rate. they as a group tend to kill their own race more than in other group in this country, but they are beginning to cross those lines in higher rate (FBI stats)so if all things were equal yes the test should reflect a different result, but, it don’t and this is across the country.

If you failed the test…study harder. It is unfortunate that they failed the test. Even though it may be harder due to lack of education opportunities/ bad school districts, us as black men are aware of this going into it. BE A MAN…STEP UP LIKE OUR FOREFATHERS BEFORE US AND DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.

If you failed the test…study harder. It is unfortunate that they failed the test. Even though it may be harder due to lack of education opportunities/ bad school districts, us as black men are aware of these circumstances going into it. BE A MAN…STEP UP LIKE OUR FOREFATHERS BEFORE US AND DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. Hard work is what pay off. Just do it. I would be insulted if someone had to “dumbdown” a test for me. I obtained my MBA in 07 at the age of 26 and had to work my butt off to get it. This isn’t AA….the oportunity has been given to you. Certain situation require harder work but rewards one with a greater achievement.

End Affirmative Action now. White Americans elected a black man as President. In this recession, white men are being laid off from jobs at a ratio of 2/1 over the combined total of all other minority groups including women. Equality has been reached.

Yes, Gov. I understand the differences, BUT, it remains a fact they have the same opportunity as anyone else to excell as others have done, YET, if they decide to live as you suggest, which obviously they have decided, then what else can they expect but failure, THEN, when they fail they start screaming ‘racism’, ‘unfair’, ‘test slanted’, etc. just to get their butts off the hook and obtain a free ride, THEN when that fails they bring in the village idiots like Sharpton, etc!
Me, I so tired of this garbage I could barf! You hear it day in, day out, until its like the boy that yelled wolf - NO ONE IS LISTENING ANYMORE! They are gonna have to find another excuse for failure instead of using the race card, and as a current example - the intended protest on I-70! Who gives a rip? I don’t, it failed 10 years ago and it will fail again! If you aren’t willing to do what is required to earn a promotion, or a contract, then you deserve to be ignored, failed, turned down, etc. IT ALL GOES WITH YOUR TERRITORY THAT YOU’VE CREATED FOR YOURSELVES. This is one thing you can’t blame on whitey, yet you do! Maybe all white people should find a race of folks to blame all our problems on, like asians, bosnians, American Indians, Hindu’s (India in case there are some people that don’t know what that means). It has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime!