Chief Leader - February 02, 2010

Could Cause a Backlash

The WOR commentator then redirected his rage and brought on Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Mannix via phone to talk about a recent order from a Federal Judge mandating that 293 minority applicants for Firefighter be given jobs with back-pay and retroactive seniority due to intentional discrimination against blacks and Latinos in the hiring process.

Ruling 'Frightening Nonsense'

Mr. Malzberg said the Judge "somehow" found two written exams discriminatory, which he dismissed as "frightening nonsense." Chief Mannix, who recently founded an organization called Merit Matters, claimed that the two tests were "ridiculously simple," and challenged the notion that the FDNY is not racially diverse, although only 7 percent of the firefighter force is black or Latino, while departments in other major cities are between 25 and 50 percent minority. Mr. Mannix said that during the 1999 test, 10 percent of the applicants were black, and 7 percent of those black candidates passed.

Mr. Malzberg yelped in response, "How many blacks and Latinos even want to be Firefighters and take the stupid test?"

He asked Mr. Mannix why, since there was ostensibly no evidence of discrimination, Judge Nicholas Garaufis made such a ruling. Calling the decision "Sotomayorian," Mr. Mannix insinuated that by granting an advantage to minority applicants, Mr. Garaufis could place himself in the running for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment from President Obama.

The exchange was one example of some conservative commentators' disgust over the decision and the accusation that the department has a diversity problem; a New York Post editorial opined that the Judge "did not cite a shred of evidence that the FDNY had discriminated against minority applicants" and "imposed strict racial hiring quotas on the department." Actually, Judge Garaufis cited pages of statistics brought by the Vulcan Society of black firefighters, while he ridiculed the city for offering what he called a lackluster defense and thin legal documents. He also specifically said he wouldn't impose quotas that the Vulcans asked for.

Harbinger of a Backlash

But if Mr. Mannix's recent appearance on the airwaves last week is any indication, the department should expect a backlash for the minority candidates coming in if the Judge's remedy is enacted. (The city may still appeal the ruling.)

"Any time courts or political figures have stepped in to modify tests, throw out tests, etc., there has always been a backlash in the firehouse," said Terry Golway, author of the book "So Others Might Live," a history of the FDNY. "In the firehouse there is this sense that the test is the test is the test. If you want to be Firefighter, then study and prepare for the test and if you pass the test you get in."

When women came into the department after a Federal Judge ruled the physical exam they were given was discriminatory and allowed them to take a modified test, firefighter wives protested and female Probationary Firefighters were harassed. Mr. Golway explained of the FDNY membership's reaction, "There was always the feeling that they had gotten in unfairly."

Some fear the same will happen for the 293 minority candidates who benefit from Judge Garaufis's ruling: that incumbent Firefighters and fire officers will discount them as unqualified individuals who got into the FDNY through the courthouse door.

Vulcans' Ex-Leader: Nothing New

Capt. Paul Washington, the former president of the Vulcan Society, isn't too worried, noting that all institutions that go through the integration process have "rocky" transitions, and that some black firefighters are used to racial tension on the job. He said that in the last year members have reported Confederate flags being hung in firehouses as well as Ku Klux Klan hoods.

"Black people live in a society that's filled with racism. It's not like something we're not used to," he said. "Black firefighters have never had an easy time in the firehouses in general."

Captain Washington added that his group wouldn't tolerate any acts of hostility towards the new Firefighters who come onto the job as a result of the Judge's order, and that diversifying the department was the Vulcans' overall strategy for combating what he called "racial friction" in fire companies.

"The racial problems in the Fire Department will never end until the firehouses have enough people of color," he said. "As long as the firehouses are dominated by whites, there will always be racial issues."

City Must Work With Vulcans

Part of the remedy for past discrimination Judge Garaufis ordered was that the city must consult with the Vulcan Society and devise a new system of testing that does not weed out minority candidates. The group seeks to throw out written tests for Firefighter altogether; it argues that oral exams given in other cities are equitable and a better measure of talent.

Written tests have long been a centerpiece of the city's civil service system, and Mr. Golway said that replacing them with alternatives to test cognitive abilities would surely ruffle more feathers in the department.

"Talk about a change of culture," he said. "But maybe the time has come to rethink that."