By Culture and By Merit

The Supreme Court is again about to venture into murky waters. They have begun hearing arguments over a case involving 20 firefighters from New Haven, Connecticut and the city of New Haven. The case centers on a test that took place in 2003 to determine command level positions for the New Haven Fire Department. As a result of the test 20 firefighters were to be awarded promotions. Of those 20, 19 were white and one was Hispanic. Seeing a major lack of diversity, the city of New Haven threw out the results of the test and canceled the promotions. The city of New Haven believed there must be an inherent fallacy of the test if it failed to yield any worthy Black candidates. The 20 firefighters filed a lawsuit saying they achieved the promotions based on the merit of their work and they should be rewarded as such

This case has been heard by two lower courts that dismissed the lawsuit, and now it makes its way to the Supreme Court. A casual glance suggest that this should be a simple case depending upon the lens with which you view the United States. For those with a liberal view of politics and social issues, it only makes sense to promote diversity. In that spirit, any job that does not seek to promote and encourage diversity needs to be reprimanded for it. For those who look at political and social issues from a conservative lens than this is slam dunk. Hard working Americans are being denied something they rightfully achieved. For the conservative observer this is a case of reverse discrimination because the firefighters who scored well on the test did so by their own merit.

The conservative viewpoint makes a lot of sense as an observer. The firefighters did exhibit the merit to serve in the leadership capacity, that can not be denied. In fact I even agree that what the city of New Haven is doing is discriminatory against the white firefighters. What's interesting to note though is how necessary the city's decision was. It was necessary because since 1776 the city of New Haven and the rest of the United States has been practicing discriminatory policies and tactics against Americans of African descent. Sadly this is the tangled web that has been woven by centuries of neglect, mistreatment, abuse and exclusion from the "American Dream" where if you work hard enough you can achieve anything. In fact the reality was (and in most instances is) if your culture permits, your merit can provide.

Sadly, and definitely unfortunately, what the firefighters are learning is a fallacy that many Americans of African descent learned centuries ago. The United States is not a meritocracy. Accomplishments are not based primarily on your ability to work hard, or achieve or perform. Rather accomplishments are the prize of those that have access. They are the reward of culture and privilege. The fallacy is only allowed to maintain because every so often there is a successful person who does not come from the upper class. Often times, those with cultural advantages use this as justification of meritocracy. They argue if John can succeed being at a socio-economic disadvantage so too can everyone else in that position. What goes largely unmentioned is that the success stories are the exception not the rule. As culture relates to this case, being white in America has been and is still a huge advantage. To neglect that would be to neglect truth.

In a feeble attempt to right the wrongs of this nation (and to avoid being taken to court for violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) the city of New Haven acknowledge that there is a great probability that its test was culturally biased (as have been most standardized test in the United States) and they wanted to right that wrong. In the process they have (though not intentionally) wronged the 20 firefighters who scored well on the test. There really is no right answer. When a society based on meritocracy doesn't start it's existence based on merit but rather cultural capital there is no way to go back and even the playing field. So now the city is stuck; not so much between a rock and a hard place but they have to decide to reward by culture or by merit.