The ruling yesterday [1] to support the white firefighters in New Haven is certainly a win for whites. Particularly, it's a win for whites that have been trying to articulate reverse racism and discrimination for years. Although I do believe reverse discrimination is possible, it remains an imbalanced issue. Why, you ask a brother? It's what the Afro-llectuals always say: discrimination was birthed out of a colonizing group who imposed socio-economic and physical threat on a colonized people in order to marginalize and control them. Or in the case of America, the enslaved and colonized people. Ipso facto, black folks can't really dish out reverse discrimination until the playing fields are equal.
But I have to be honest. The bigger issue here is those tests. Why was it assumed the Blacks and Latinos wouldn't pass? Are people of color considered inherently challenged when it comes to test taking? Do people of color believe that themselves? Is the firefighter's exam so culturally-biased that a standard American education couldn't even help a dog pass? Most firefighters [at least in NYC] tend to be working-class. You mean to say those kats are natural test-takers based solely on their whiteness [their, in most cases, second-generation immigrant whiteness]? I have mixed feelings about this one. The reverse discrimination stands out like real crazy. However, throwing out the test in order to appease black and Latino test-takers is both problematic and insulting. What's really going on?
Links:
[1] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdV4k6q8whNn7fJ_JhZb5tdIy4ZwD994RJ0G0