The Confluence Of Civil Rights & Fiscal Hardship In Chicago - The Multi-Million Award To Black Firefighter Candidates In Chicago

Summary Statement:  The choice in Chicago is between giving $30,000,000 of  PUBLIC money to private wallets in acknowledgement of their grievance against the city - versus prioritizing the "public good", using these limited financial resources to provide city services and retain civil service jobs.

Only rarely do we see a case where there is a confluence of competing interests that prove to be a deadlock to the interests of the progressive-fundamentalists.

• The Public Transit Union that demands a pay raise due to their own losses in purchasing power which would trigger a fare increase on the working poor, stripping away their purchasing power.
• The complaints from education activists that teachers assigned to their schools are unqualified to teach while these same activists lobby to lower the graduation and admission standards of academic institutions in order to widen the gates of opportunity
• The silence in attacking a "favorable elected official" as their "permanent interests" are being violated BECAUSE in doing so would weaken him and thus have an adversary take over - thus threatening their permanent interests.

Today we can add another such conundrum to the pile. 

The case of the 111 Black candidates for fire fighter positions in Chicago.   

As this high tax city has a budget deficit of $587 million.  Surely there will be jobs and massive service cuts necessary to pare down this gaping hole.  Tax increases are likely off of the table - not because the one Republican Alderman on a panel of 50 is averse to increased taxation but because their high existing taxes would cause material damage to the residents who are already tapped out.

 An Attempt To Appraise The Value Of A "Punitive Judgement" Versus "City Jobs And Services"

$30 million of public funds from the city coffers (or insurance premiums against such lawsuits) are likely to be PRIVATIZED into the hands of the aggrieved candidates.  They are able to spend this money as they see fit.

When it comes to funding of the government - it appears - that some people prioritize grievances that justify a payout over those who earn their money yet are forced to pay punitive progressive taxation - with a spirit of wrath standing behind it.

If you do a sampling of various progressive reporters (Mary Mitchell in the audio) and others  there is a celebratory spirit around the notion that 111 Black fire fighters have gotten "justice" and will get jobs.   How will the city pay for the $30 million and the $587 million deficit?  As Mary Mitchell says - UNPAID FURLOUGH days.

So again - when Tax Cuts are the trigger of budget short falls - the thought that first responders - police and fire fighters - will be taken off of the clock - reducing their pay and reducing the staffing levels in a city - there is outrage over "Tax Cuts For The Rich".  

Yet from the same mouths that express outrage over these pay and service cuts that imperial working class people - there is a mood of "A Brother Got Paid for being Dun Wrong"?   Indeed they prioritize liquidated grievance over earned fortunes.

What About The Test?

Once again we see the "Transaction Of Black Inferiority".
When it comes to standardized tests - those who see that Black people as a group too often score at least one standard deviation below that of White candidates - the first argument they make is that the test is a RACIALLY based impediment to employment of Blacks and other minorities.   They use the resulting pools of candidates that are left standing - pointing to the reduced "diversity" to prove that the test has violated the great wild card of jurisprudence - DISPARATE IMPACT.

The bottom line is:

• There is a large gap between available jobs and the large number of candidates vying for them
• In addition to standard physical requirements - the test is used as another filter
• The aggrieved party is angered that the rules were changed in the middle of the game.  The pool that had been defined by all of those who got a "passing score" would be randomly drawn from was altered to include only those who had at least an 89 (IIRC).
• The argument is that while the "passing pool" had significant Black candidates, only 11% of the 89+ pool were Black - thus this is racial discrimination

The key argument is that this change had "Disparate Impact Racially" since too few Blacks had 89% or above.  The court agreed.

The next logical step is for the aggrieved to attack the veracity of the test.  "Does it test the qualifications for becoming a fire fighter?".

I yield that only Chicago can determine what is best for its city.  When faced with an asymmetric relationship between openings and candidates - if it seeks to diminish the importance of academic exercises that its test takers are put through as a filtering process - this should be their right to do so.  I am neutral on this.   I AGREE - that the rules cannot be changed in mid-course.   The fact that the Chicago Fire Department did not anticipate the large body of candidates is evidence of their incompetence.   

I agree with the aggrieved party ONLY in the fact that the rules were changed in mid-stream.

I do not agree with the large punitive damages to be paid out to private individuals.

The Atlanta Black Fire Fighters

I give credit to the class of Black Atlanta Fire Fighter candidates for promotion.  They did things the right way.

They formed study groups with the goal of acing the test.  After their scores were higher than all other candidates (including Whites) they were awarded the promotion.   

The White fire fighters sued, claiming that the Blacks cheated.   

Lesson learned:  THE AGGRIEVED PARTY IS GOING TO SUE

With the rules in place as such - and you are EQUALLY YOLKED academically as the next man.......YOUR JOB is to invest the time necessary to EQUAL or OUTDISTANCE him so that you can obtain the prize.

The choice to Transact Black Inferiority - attacking the test with the hopes of disqualifying it does nothing 

to advance the Permanent Interests of the Black Community via ORGANIC COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT.