CHARLIES CURRENT EVENT

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-firefighter-race-lawsuit.artapr06,0,5219178.story

In 2004, in New Haven, firefighters took a test in which the top 15 scorers would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant. "A once in a decade" opportunity, it was a very important test for the firefighters. When the results were returned, 14 of the top 15 scores were the scores of white firefighters, and the fifteenth was scored by a Hispanic firefighter. The city of New Haven threw out all of the test scores because they did not want to start a civil rights issue by not promoting any African-American firefighters. But, 19 white firefighters sued the city for racial discrimination, arguing that they had the top scores and that they were having their promotions taken away unfairly.

Frank Ricci, one of the firefighters who scored in the top 15, is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court later this month. In his first civil rights message of his term, President Obama has made it clear that he feels that the city of New Haven was justified in discarding the test scores.

Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act says that an employer may not use race as a reason for hiring or not hiring someone. The firefighters argue that they are not being hired because they are no African-American, while members of the NAACP point out that black firefighters have always struggled to become involved in the firefighting community (citing this as a reason to discard the tests). The city also argued that it isn't clear whether the material on the test was related to actually being a lieutenant, so therefore it might have been aimed at a white test taker (this piece of information came with no evidence or proof, so please in our class discussion do not consider this as a clear cut fact).

So, to connect this to class, in our country's effort attain racial equality, is it appropriate to take away from white Americans in order to give to African-Americans who arn't as qualified (their lower tests scores proves they are less qualified, thats the point of the test)?