A ’Fair’ Process Results In All Whites!

WorldNetDaily.com, May 1, 2004

When Page 1 of the Baltimore Sun erupted with the headline “CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT RECRUITS 1ST ALL-WHITE CLASS IN 50 YEARS,” I asked, on my WCBM Baltimore talk-radio show, “Uninhibited Radio Free Maryland,” that night:

“When your house is on fire and you are rescued from your bedroom by a fireman, do you care — now think about this — do you care at all about what is the color of this fireman’s skin?”

I was delighted to read the next morning in the lead of the Sun’s columnist Greg Kane’s piece the following:

“If my house is burning and firefighters come to put it out, I’m not going to quibble about what color they are.”

Columnist Kane — who happens to be black — went on to write:

An article by The Sun’s Reginald Fields quoted several retired black firefighters who accused Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. of “stamping on racial progress and violating the tenets of the Civil Rights Act.”

Let’s see here. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that hiring and public accommodations be done without regard to race. In 1954, things were done very much based on race. Was that the case in 2002 when, according to James Gardner, the deputy public information officer for the Fire Department, the entrance exams were last taken?

According to Fields’ article, nearly half of the 836 people who took that test failed. We can safely conclude that many of them were white, but don’t expect to see anybody shedding tears over their plight.

“We knew we were in some big trouble,” Goodwin told news media members gathered at Fire Department headquarters. “We didn’t get fully solved. We will make sure it never happens again.”

The “it” in question is a class with only whites. The department will now give a new civil service test, although Goodwin acknowledged that the one scrapped was a test “that was supposed to be one least adversely impacting minorities.”

You want to commit yourself to an asylum when you hear talk like this. Tests, civil service and otherwise, are supposed to measure individual achievement or aptitude. The test that will “least adversely impact” a racial or ethnic group has not, and will never, be created.

By Goodwin’s own admission, that same process worked for the eight black and six white command staffers standing behind him. When I suggested that the process that resulted in an all-white class was completely color-blind and in accordance with the law of the land, Goodwin couldn’t disagree.

“Was [the process] fair?” Goodwin asked. “It was absolutely fair. Did we follow all the civil service laws? Absolutely. But the process has to be something we need to do better at. Up front, the process is flawed.”

Then I asked Goodwin if he’d quibble about the color of the firefighters who came to put out a fire at his house.

“I appreciate what you’re saying,” Goodwin answered. “But as government employees and civil servants, we have to do a better job of being inclusive in those areas.”

Battalion Chief Charles E. Brown, one of the African-Americans who make up 50 percent of Goodwin’s command staff, echoed the chief’s sentiments after the news conference was over.

“We would like to reflect the community,” Brown said.

Yes, and I’d like Michael Jordan’s basketball ability and Denzel Washington’s looks. Life isn’t fair, but the process that got Baltimore an all-white cadet class was. The most probing question yesterday was about fairness. It came not from reporters, but from a member of the department.

“How,” asked Deputy Chief Antonio R. Thomas, an African-American, “do you get more fair than fair? The process was fair.”

But despite what columnist Kane reported, the mayor of Baltimore, Democrat Martin O’Malley, in his own words “read the riot act” to Baltimore Fire Chief Goodwin.

And while the Associated Press quoted Chief Goodwin as saying the recruiting and hiring process that produced the all-white class “was completely fair and above board,” he also state, “The process will be changed immediately.”

Think about that: It was “completely fair and above board” — but it will be changed! And I ask: Will it be changed to what is unfair? Why yes — what other alternative is there to “completely fair”?

The “riot-act-reading” Mayor Martin O’Malley originally ran for mayor against two black candidates — one of whom actually told a black crowd : “Look at me! I look like you!”

O’Malley challenged that racism and he won.

Now, believe it or not, this white mayor of a predominately black city has, in his own words “read the riot act” because the best qualified applicants to join the Baltimore Fire Department were all white (never mind a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds — consider skin shade!).

The Sun reported:

“The Fire Department interviewed several black candidates who had passed the entrance exam, but in nearly every case the person was disqualified for failing either a criminal background check or drug screening, said department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.”

That raises the question of Mayor O’Malley — who is obviously planning to run for governor of Maryland: “Should there be special privileges in avoiding entrance exam requirements for all criminals and dope addicts? Or only for criminals and dope addicts who are black?”

If you are a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, and one of their backs runs 95 yards, wins the game and puts the Ravens into the Super Bowl — do you care at all about what is the color of this football player’s skin?

Nobody I know or who I have ever heard of cares about Raven skin shade. And the idea of affirmative action for a pro football team that has many more black players than that race’s percentage of the populace has resulted in no court cases or protests.

But the question of Baltimore city firemen, who save lives — which is more important than any sport — is to be “solved” by affirmative action, which, if ever applied to Baltimore Raven player selection (so there would be some Asian-American, more Hispanic-American and American Indians on the team to replace the predominance of talented blacks) would lead to riots.

So what has happened to Baltimore’s fire department?

The Sun reports: “Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. pledged yesterday that the department would ’never again’ hire an all-white recruiting class.” And I would add: Even if those whites are the most qualified.

“Never again a class that is ’racially exclusive’ or ’unbalanced.’“ And I would add: While substituting skin shade for ability and thus being both exclusionary and unbalanced.

Mayor O’Malley, who is the latest white mayor in a long history of all but two non-white mayors, was elected because the majority of the voters of Baltimore rejected the racist idea that mayors should be elected because of their skin shade, rather than their ability.

Now he has betrayed that vote against the racism of affirmative action. In so doing, he has committed political suicide in the eyes of the majority of Maryland voters.

Les Kinsolving hosts a daily talk show for WCBM in Baltimore. His radio commentaries are syndicated nationally. He is White House correspondent for Talk Radio Network and WorldNetDaily. His show can be heard on the Internet at www.wcbm.com 8-10 p.m. Eastern each weekday. Before going into broadcasting, Kinsolving was a newspaper reporter and columnist — twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary.