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Tennessee thru Wyoming: News Articles about Reverse Discrimination against Police, Fire, and Municipal Employees. |
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| By State and City: Tennessee (Memphis): MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- "Racial quotas used by the Memphis Police Department to promote black officers for more than two decades have been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. "U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner set a June 30 hearing to determine how much money should be awarded to white officers who were denied promotions because of the quotas. "The city began using a quota system in the early 1970s under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department to try to remedy past discrimination against black officers.
"More than 100 white officers sued in 1989 and 1990 after they were passed over for
promotion." (Associated Press, via Washington Post 05/14/99) Texas (Austin): (Adversity.Net Case Study 52) Austin Police Commander Harold Piatt has been passed over repeatedly by less qualified "persons of color" by his department. One of the minorities promoted over Hiatt was later convicted of a felony and discharged. Another held his new post for less than a year before he was demoted due to poor performance.
Piatt, with legal assistance from
the Texas Legal Foundation, filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court
on June 26, 2007. (Adversity.Net Case #52 posted 07-02-07) Texas( Statewide): (Adversity.Net Special Report) The Dallas Morning News took it upon itself to analyze 895,000 Texas traffic tickets issued in 1999 in order to prove "racial profiling". Based on their flawed, incomplete analysis, the Dallas Morning News concluded that blacks in Texas counties received more tickets than white residents of the individual counties. BUT, the News failed to account for the fact that (a) Many drivers on Texas state and interstate roads are NOT residents of the county in which tickets are issued; and (b) Many traffic tickets are issued to drivers who are "pass-through" traffic who do not live in the county in which they received the ticket.
At the time of the News' study, Texas police did not collect information on the
county-of-residence of "pass-through" drivers who were ticketed. Thus,
Dallas Morning News had no valid statistical basis upon which to conclude that blacks in
individual Texas counties received proportionately more tickets than white county
residents. Not to be deterred by the facts, the Dallas Morning News incorrectly
concluded that Texas police issue a higher proportion of traffic citations to black
drivers than their numbers in their non-county of residence might suggest.
(Adversity.Net special report 10/14/00, by Tim Fay) Texas (Baytown): "Fire Chief Bob Leiper said in a memorandum to the Baytown City Council that he needs to hire six firefighters, but only two of 27 candidates passed the test, and neither qualifies as a minority. According to the AP story, the Federal District Court for the Southern District examined disparities between the racial mix of the city and its fire department in March 1992. "The racial mix at the time in Baytown was 30 percent minority," City Clerk Gary Smith said. "The order said the city was to use an alternating hiring system until the minority proportion reached 30 percent." That proportion is now at 17 percent, Smith said. According to the AP story, City Clerk Gary Smith said a lawsuit filed by a minority firefighter from Lake Charles, La., prompted the federal review. The man passed the test for Baytown firefighters, but his score was low enough that all vacancies were filled by higher scorers. Fire Chief Bob Leiper said "You had what is called strict rank ordering" as required by the Civil Service Commission. "If there was a very small difference in a test grade, the person with the higher score had to be hired or rejected before the next highest scorer could be considered." "The consent decree handed down in 1992 changed that. Chief Leiper said tests are banded into four groups, and everyone in one group has to be accepted or rejected before officials can consider candidates in another group. However, Paul Munoz, president of Baytown Professional firefighters Association No. 1173, said quality of candidates may be low. "We feel the quality of the people applying is suffering because we don't pay, or have the benefits, that Houston offers," Munoz said.
(Based on the Associated Press story in the Houston Chronicle 02/11/01.) Texas (Dallas): Dallas Morning News Headline: "Promotion of mostly white officers urged: Some minorities oppose chief's effort" "Dallas Police Chief Ben Click is urging his bosses at City Hall to let him promote a mostly white group of more than 50 officers who allege they were unfairly passed over because of their race. "Chief Click said he decided to seek the promotions after the Supreme Court on March 29 let stand a lower court ruling against the city's affirmative action plan. [See also below: Supreme Court Lets Stand Decision AGAINST Dallas Quotas!] "Although the Supreme Court decision pertained to a suit brought by Dallas firefighters, police officers have made similar claims of discrimination in two pending suits against the city, Chief Click said. "News of the impending promotions brought criticism from the Police Department's major organizations representing minority officers. Sgt. Thomas Glover, president of the predominantly black Texas Peace Officers Association, said the chief is acting too quickly and basing his decision on a ruling that applied to a different department. "Detective Gil Cerda, president of the Latino Peace Officers Association, said promotions to senior corporal based only on exams could thin out the rank of minorities to be considered for the sergeant and lieutenant ranks. A Hispanic has not been promoted to lieutenant since 1990, he said. "There are other things that are just as important that should be included," he said. "Language skills, experience, community involvement and disciplinary evaluations, those all need to be included and should have as much importance as an exam." "A Dallas City Council policy adopted in 1988 allowed the Police and Fire departments to "skip promote" blacks, Hispanics and women who did not score as well as white male counterparts on civil service exams.
"The department's two other major organizations, the Dallas Police Association and
Dallas Police Patrolmen's Union, reacted favorably to the imminent promotions. The initial
suit was filed by about 22 DPA and DPPU officers in 1995 over 1993 promotions.
"I think the overall diving force behind this is fairness," said Senior Cpl.
Glenn White, president of the 2,500-member DPA. "We have always espoused that it is
not a racial or gender issue. It involves fairness." (Dallas Morning News
04/09/99 by Dave Michaels and Robert Ingrassia) Texas (Dallas): "The Supreme Court again refused to enter the contentious realm of [racial quotas and racial preferences against white males], declining yesterday to take a case from Dallas over the objection of two justices who argued that the court should examine the constitutionality of a program designed to benefit minority firefighters." By turning the Dallas firefighter case away, the Supreme Court ensured that Dallas will no longer be able to employ the discriminatory, anti-white racial quotas it had adopted a decade ago to help "diversify" the ranks of its firefighting force. According to the Washington Post "The justices' action also shows how much the subject of racial preferences continues to polarize the court. [Predictably] the court's two Clinton appointees, Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, issued an unusual written dissent, urging the court to take the case. Written by Breyer, the dissent said that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had erred last year in concluding that there was not enough evidence of past discrimination in the hiring and promotion of Dallas firefighters to warrant the city's plan for remedying the problem." The Washington Post quoted Clint Bolick, litigation director for the Institute for Justice, as saying "Lower courts are getting the unmistakable message from the Supreme Court that racial preferences are a dying and disfavored device." The Post article says: "The Dallas firefighters' case stems from a five-year affirmative action plan that the city adopted in 1988. It permitted certain black, Latino and female members of the fire department to be promoted over others even if they earned lower scores on written promotion tests.
"The policy prompted four lawsuits between 1991 and 1995 by the Dallas Fire Fighters
Association and individual white and Native American members of the department who were
bypassed for promotions. In a ruling last year ... the 5th Circuit concluded that
the [Dallas Fire] department's racial and gender preferences violated constitutional
"equal protection" rights of the department's white males. And it found that
Dallas had not proven it had a "history of egregious and pervasive
discrimination" to justify "interfering with the legitimate expectations"
of firefighters who believed they deserved to be promoted based on their test
scores." (Washington Post, 03/30/99, page A04, by Amy Goldstein) Texas (Beaumont):
Wm. Reed Huckabay was subjected to a racially hostile work environment by the county's
first black commissioner, Ed Moore. On Sept. 24, 1998 a federal jury ruled in favor
of Huckabay and ordered the county to pay $750,000. The county is appealing the
decision (AP, Star-Telegram 9/25/98) Texas (Dallas): A series of reverse-discrimination suits filed by the Dallas Firefighters Association in 1995 were upheld by the 5th Circuit. But, the racial quota cheerleaders have filed an appeal -- Dallas's "quota kings" don't want something as silly as the Constitution interfering with their racial quotas! (Dallas Morning News 8/13/98 -- link no longer available.) Texas (Dallas):
Forget the fact that two Federal Courts have ruled in favor of
Dallas firefighters' suits that racial promotions are unconstitutional! Those whacky
Dallas council members think their political biases are superior to silly Court
rulings! The Dallas City Council is mounting a two-pronged attack on the
Constitution: (a) they are planning to file an appeal to the Supreme Court to
overturn the Federal Court rulings (and using Dallas citizens' Tax Dollars to do it!); and
(b) without waiting for the Courts, the Dallas Council is voting to extend by one
year their racial preferences / racial promotions policies in the Dallas Police and Fire
Services. (The Dallas Morning News 9/23/98) Virginia (Richmond): "A white Richmond firefighter has filed a racial discrimination suit against the city, alleging he was passed over for promotion to captain several times in favor of less accomplished black candidates. Steven Chandler, a firefighter for the city since 1983, filed the suit this month in Contra Costa County Superior Court. "I felt that I wasn't being treated fairly," Chandler said Thursday. "Others were placed above me, and I wasn't given equal rights."
Chandler is asking for appointment to captain, back pay, and payment for emotional
distress. (Contra Costa Times, 03/20/99) Virginia (Fairfax
County): Thomas Manger was appointed Fairfax County's new police chief on Mon., Jan. 11, 1999. According to supervisors who interviewed Manger, one of his winning interview answers was his promise to improve recruitment and training of minority officers. Manger indicated this is a priority of his since the county has become a more "diverse" place in the past few years. According to the Washington Post "Brian Boykin, president of the Fairfax County Black Law Enforcement Association, an organization of African American officers" said 'I intend on working closely with [Chief Manger]' " on issues of concern to the black officers. The new Chief and the black officers group have worked together "on issues such as upward and lateral mobility of minorities, and in bringing them in."
"Minority officers still feel mistreated at times, Boykin has said, and there are
remnants of a system that brought the county under federal scrutiny in the 1980s for
disparate treatment of black officers. [Chief] Manger 'seems to be certainly willing and
understanding of the issues that are out there,' Boykin said." (Washington Post, 01-11-99, by Tom Jackman, page A01) Washington (Seattle):
Adversity.Net (Horror Stories, Case 6, this site):
Captain Randy Hansen objected to 'racial preferences' at the Seattle F.D. The
Seattle minorities ganged up on him, his management has abandoned him, and Seattle
retaliates by trying to fire him. Hansen's case is under investigation as of
2/22/98. End Police Fire (6) Tennessee to Wyoming |
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