Boston to hire 6 rejected white firefighters

[darksoul]

The Boston Fire Department has agreed to hire six men who were passed over in favor of minority group members with lower test scores, marking the first time the city has voluntarily agreed to hire rejected white applicants since a federal appeals court declared its affirmative action plan unconstitutional last March.

 

The six white men will join four others, who challenged the department's 29-year-old affirmative action plan and won a ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. All of the men had been turned down in favor of minority applicants who scored lower on a statewide civil service exam.

"This was a recognition by the city that the time has come to do away with the minority hiring preferences and judge everyone on an equal footing regardless of their race," said Mark J. Ventola, the lawyer for the six men who had filed suit in August. "It's a trend I'm hoping will continue."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/...e_firefighters/

thoughts?

[Digital.K]

This is good I think. Affirmative action has no place in society. The playing field is level, and why does anyone need to advance because of color? Anyone who thinks that AA is needed, needs to ask themselves do they really think minorities need special allowances because they are less than you are? They aren't less and everyone has the same chances to do anything they want to do in life, but you should have to work for it and get there on your merits, not your color.:)

[aem4162]

this is stupid...the applicants with the scores and abilities should've been hired in the first place...i wonder about affirmative action sometimes

[Joel]

There should be closed interviews and tests, much like symphony orchestra auditions. The applicant and judges never speak or even see each other, it's all behind a curtain.

[darksoul]

There should be closed interviews and tests, much like symphony orchestra auditions. The applicant and judges never speak or even see each other, it's all behind a curtain.

I agree with you silly_walk, doing everything this way is the only way to prevent discrimination. i do however feel that statistics should be kept in the aggregate so we can see trends and begin to determine the reasons behind them.

[Aaron Veteran]

Makes me wonder how many other qualified people have been denied because of their race. I wonder how the community would feel knowing that the most qualified police, fire fighters, etc., are not serving because a magic number had to be met. I wonder if mistakes were made that wouldn't have been had the most qualified person been doing the job the first time around. Makes me wonder....

[Joel]

Makes me wonder how many other qualified people have been denied because of their race. I wonder how the community would feel knowing that the most qualified police, fire fighters, etc., are not serving because a magic number had to be met. I wonder if mistakes were made that wouldn't have been had the most qualified person been doing the job the first time around. Makes me wonder....

Kinda scary, isn't it?

[poind]

Personally, I want things like my local firefighters on the job because of their demonstrated merit to do the job without consideration for race or whatever that's probably irrelevant. Certainly don't want any firefighter altering how they do their *own* job based upon race considerations of those they protect.

Am just sad in this case that lower test scores were initially "promoted", assuming the test is indeed markedly relevant to the job to be done.

Also sad that affirmative action may be / have been affecting things that can be *so* crucially important to actual merit. Not good.

[glockfan]

In case of fire/emergency, i want the person who is able to help me, don't care if they are black, white, green or purple. I remember reading in the paper ~year ago about a woman suing because she was cut from fire dept application process. Her story: it was b/c she was a woman. THeir story with records and video to back it up: could lift ladder and get it to proper window. again who can help me in my time of need. apparently not her.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

This is good I think. Affirmative action has no place in society. The playing field is level, and why does anyone need to advance because of color? Anyone who thinks that AA is needed, needs to ask themselves do they really think minorities need special allowances because they are less than you are? They aren't less and everyone has the same chances to do anything they want to do in life, but you should have to work for it and get there on your merits, not your color.:)

The playing field isn't level although it is more level than it has been traditionally.

I personally don't like AA because of the tokenism. "He's the token whatever that was hired through AA". If I was a minority who had the legitimate credentials then I'd hate to have to wear that assumed albatros around my neck.

I think there are better ways to get certain jobs more reflective of society. Education/advertising is good. Training and internship programs aimed at a certain minority would also be good.

I don't have a problem with encourging HR to hire an EQUALLY qualified minority over an EQUALLY qualified non-minority but once it dips to hiring a less qualified person over a more qualified person then I don't think you're doing anybody a service (minority or not).