Our country allows anyone who feels their right to be free from racial discrimination may seek justice in the court of law. Now we find white individuals bringing suit that they are being denied jobs that they qualify for. I ask, has and further litigation helped Lewis v. City of Chicago African Americans or hurt the purpose of their initial fight? Many would say it helped because litigation provided a voice to those who knew they could not act or speak for themselves. It hurt because now there is explicit law and the courts have the obligation to follow the letter of the law regardless of the race. plaintiff’s White firefighters fight for the same reason black firefighter candidates fought they all – took a test and that test led to some many demise. In 2002, the Adversity Net reported that white firefighters won more than $2.3 million in back pay and damages because their ‘"Nine scores on a lieutenant's test were lowered 16 years ago because the city wanted to promote In May, 2002, a federal jury decided that eight of the white firefighters had been minorities.’” injured because they would have attained the level of Captain if they were not passed over and at least three of them would have attained promotions to Battalion Chief after they sat for promotional exams. During the issue of entrance exams for firefighters, many blacks complained that the test were unconstitutional. Therefore, the lowered the scores of white “city firefighters to even the results of what was believed to be a racially biased test in practice called made illegal by the 1991 Civil Rights Once this test was challenged, a “race norming” – Act.” jury determined that the test was in fact fair and the city erred when they lowered the scores of white candidates. CONCLUSION What result did discrimination litigation have on blacks and white? Did it really help those who have a voice? Did it give more momentum to those who have always dominated white didn’t –
Our country allows anyone who feels their right to be free from racial discrimination may seek justice in the court of law. Now we find white individuals bringing suit that they are being denied jobs that they qualify for. I ask, has Lewis v. City of Chicago and further litigation helped African Americans or hurt the purpose of their initial fight? Many would say it helped because litigation provided a voice to those who knew they could not act or speak for themselves. It hurt because now there is explicit law and the courts have the obligation to follow the letter of the law regardless of the plaintiff’s race. White firefighters fight for the same reason black firefighter candidates fought – they all took a test and that test led to some many demise. In 2002, the Adversity Net reported that ‘"Nine white firefighters won more than $2.3 million in back pay and damages because their scores on a lieutenant's test were lowered 16 years ago because the city wanted to promote minorities.’” In May, 2002, a federal jury decided that eight of the white firefighters had been injured because they would have attained the level of Captain if they were not passed over and at least three of them would have attained promotions to Battalion Chief after they sat for promotional exams. During the issue of entrance exams for firefighters, many blacks complained that the test were unconstitutional. Therefore, the “city lowered the scores of white firefighters to even the results of what was believed to be a racially biased test in practice called “race norming” – made illegal by the 1991 Civil Rights Act.” Once this test was challenged, a jury determined that the test was in fact fair and the city erred when they lowered the scores of white candidates. CONCLUSION What result did discrimination litigation have on blacks and white? Did it really help those who didn’t have a voice? Did it give more momentum to those who have always dominated – white