More than 200 white firefighters rallied outside a Brooklyn courthouse against the court-ordered fix for the FDNY entrance exam — but a hearing being held inside on the controversy was an almost total bust. Click below to find out more.
Only 36 of the 180 scheduled speakers showed up to object directly to Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis on the first of four days of hearings.
Garaufis has ordered a variety of solutions to create a more diverse department, including retroactive seniority and priority hiring of 293 minorities.
Each speaker inside, mostly current firefighters, was allowed two minutes to vent.
“Seniority was earned in the dead of night when these benefactors were home sleeping,” said firefighter Matthew Bland, a nine-year veteran.
“I am concerned for the future of my department … Standards must remain high,” said Chief Nicholas Corrado, the highest-ranking FDNY officer to testify.
“I feel I’m being discriminated against because I’m Caucasian,” firefighter Michael Butt said.
The judge has blocked out his entire calendar through Thursday for a so-called Fairness Hearing, but he was able to adjourn Monday’s proceeding at 11 a.m. after the list of speakers was exhausted.
Merit Matters is a self-proclaimed advocacy organization established for the sole purpose of denying African-Americans, and other non-white ethnic groups, a fair chance of employment within the FDNY. Merit Matters has chosen to make the issue of FDNY testing a battle cry for their group. However, the major problem is the FDNY civil service exams for 1999 and 2002 were proven to be ineffective at determining which applicants would become the best firefighters. The only value those exams had were significantly lessening hiring from non-white ethnic groups. This in fact makes the 1999 and 2002 exams illegal under the legal designation of “disparate impact”; which is a clear violation of 1964 Civil Rights Act.
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