This is already old news, but I was reminded of it again today so here I am. If you’ve not heard the story yet of Frank Ricci you can Google his name and find plenty.
In a nutshell, he’s a fireman from New Haven, Conn. who worked his butt off to get promoted and when all his hard work paid off and he passed his exam he was then told the city was throwing out the test results because none of the applicants who passed the test were black.
The city of New Haven was afraid the promotion of an all-white class (there was one Latino who passed) would anger the black community. They threw out the test results and set to work creating a new test that would guarantee a more “balanced” outcome.
Frank has been a fireman for 11 years and he wanted this promotion so bad, he bought $1000 worth of textbooks and he quit a second job so he could spend more time studying them for the exam. Did I mention Frank is dyslexic? A friend read his textbooks onto tape for him to make the studying easier.
He was competing against his peers for one of eight available promotions to lieutenant. He placed sixth on the exam, soundly earning him one of those spots. If only he had been born black.
New Haven officials contend that the absence of any black firemen who made the grade for promotion proves discrimination. Never mind the fact that the architects of the original test paid specific attention to ensuring the questions were race neutral. What if the NBA threw out every victory that didn’t include points scored by white players?
More and more often, bigotry is rearing its ugly head in the form of political correctness. Seven white men and one Latino got the best scores and earned their promotions. There is not one valid reason for them to not be proudly wearing lieutenant bars on their uniforms now.
