Can you be more fair than fair?

Wish I'd said that!

[Reprinted from Issues & Views May 17, 2004]

After the Baltimore Sun's black journalist Gregory Kane learned that a test administered to prospective firefighters had resulted in all-white recruits, he attended the subsequent press conference where apologetic white Fire Department Chief William Goodwin engaged in the usual mumblings about "inclusiveness" and "diversity."

The Chief, apparently nervous about the fact that all the blacks who took the test had failed, seemed to think an explanation was in order, and promised, "We will make sure it never happens again." He informed reporters that the test given had been specially designed "to be one least adversely impacting minorities." Writes Kane:

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.

And thank heavens.

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.

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."

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