Help A White Guy

If someone tries to rob you, do you care whether the policeman who stops him is black or white? The Department of Justice does. Using the standard of "disparate impact"--under which almost any test, no matter how carefully vetted, can be ruled illegally discriminatory if some group does not score high enough on it--DOJ has filed suit against New Jersey because of its exam for police sergeants.

The mere threat of such litigation has made Chicago consider completely abolishing its testing of police applicants; meanwhile, a federal judge has accused New York City's fire department of "intentional discrimination" for using a test on which blacks did poorly. The "disparate impact" doctrine is bad for white applicants, who must meet unfairly high standards; bad for states and municipalities, which, between DOJ's zealots and the Supreme Court's recent Ricci decision, are damned if they do and damned if they don't; and bad for the public of all races, whose civil servants cannot be winnowed as thoroughly as they should be. But it's great for the diversity industry, which is why Barack Obama's Justice Department is sure to continue the crusade no matter what.

New York City Police Department Press: (8 February 2010)
http://free-dog-secrets.com/press/New-York-City-Police-Department.html