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Bias Suit a Test of Resolve for Hispanic Man
New York Times ^ | July 2, 2009 | A. G. Sulzberger

Posted on 07/03/2009 8:53:46 AM PDT by reaganaut1

NEW HAVEN — The two dozen firefighters who packed into Humphrey’s East Restaurant were celebrating a coming marriage, drinking and jawboning in the boisterous style of large men with risky jobs, but Lt. Ben Vargas spent the evening trying to escape the tension surrounding his presence.

During a trip to the bathroom, he found himself facing another man. Without warning, the first punch landed. When Lieutenant Vargas awoke, bloodied and splayed on the grimy floor, he was taken to the hospital.

Lieutenant Vargas believes the attack, five years ago, was orchestrated by a black firefighter in retaliation for his having joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city over its tossing out of an exam for promotion that few minority firefighters passed. (No arrests were made in the attack, and the black firefighter vigorously denies having been involved.)

When the Hispanic firefighters’ association and its members — including Lieutenant Vargas’s brother — refused to publicly stand behind him, he quit the organization.

Lieutenant Vargas, who posted the sixth-highest score on the exam, was ridiculed as a token, a turncoat and an Uncle Tom — all of which, he said, “made my resolve that much stronger.”

When the United States Supreme Court ruled this week in the firefighters’ favor, Lieutenant Vargas, 40, the son of Puerto Rican parents, found himself celebrating amid an awkward racial dynamic: As the lone Hispanic among the 18 plaintiffs who had challenged an affirmative action policy, he had also challenged an appeals court decision joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: benvargas; discrimination; firefighters; hispanic; newhaven; quotas; ricci; sotomayor; vargas
A test is not biased against a group just because that group does not score as well on it.
1 posted on 07/03/2009 8:53:46 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Even electing a white guilt President will not change things.


2 posted on 07/03/2009 8:56:39 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: reaganaut1

54% of Hispanics describe themselves as white. The Dems created this phony category in the 1970s to have another victim class and to confer minority rights on whites.


3 posted on 07/03/2009 9:08:50 AM PDT by kabar
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To: reaganaut1

You cannot expect people who were hired to fill a quota to do well on tests where there is no quota.

Affirmative action hires will always have to rely on affirmative action promotions.


4 posted on 07/03/2009 9:09:16 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: reaganaut1

When thousands of tests applied in thousands of cities in thousands of situations all show the same thing, it’s time to recognize and admit what the tests show.


5 posted on 07/03/2009 9:15:23 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: reaganaut1
Lieutenant Vargas, who posted the sixth-highest score on the exam, was ridiculed as a token

He was ridiculed as a token by an organization of actual tokens, the Hispanic firefighters association.

He proved he was good enough by passing an exam. I wonder how many members of the Hispanic firefighters association are there because they checked the right box on their employment application.

6 posted on 07/03/2009 9:27:54 AM PDT by seowulf (Petraeus, cross the Rubicon.)
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To: reaganaut1

It’s never wrong to stand up for what’s right. Mr. Vargas is a hero to me.


7 posted on 07/03/2009 9:56:06 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: kabar

50 years from now it will be 100%.


8 posted on 07/03/2009 9:58:06 AM PDT by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: reaganaut1

From looking at this headline we would learn from the NY Times that this suit was an ordeal for the Hispanic guy but a piece of cake for the white guys.”Women And Minorities Hit Hardest” indeed.


9 posted on 07/03/2009 10:00:00 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Christian+Veteran=Terrorist)
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To: reaganaut1
Am I dreaming that this reporting of racist harted from the LEFT was printed in the NYT...and written by a SULZBERGER???

I am looking out my window now and expect to see a flock of pigs flying past it.

10 posted on 07/03/2009 10:41:04 AM PDT by FreepShop1
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To: FreepShop1

Yes, I also was surprised to see this in the NYT by a Sulzberger. Even more shocking would be a sympathetic portrayal of a white victim of quotas.


11 posted on 07/03/2009 10:54:03 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: Dr. Ursus

Klan with a Tan has to be stopped by legal authority just like the white Klan they replaced. Racial enforcement is the only way they can dominate the target - whitey. Same as when the Klan enforced segregation and discrimation against the n-word.

The sooner we get that we are dealing with a new order of the same old nasty thing, the better.


12 posted on 07/03/2009 12:31:25 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: reaganaut1
When the United States Supreme Court ruled this week in the firefighters’ favor, Lieutenant Vargas, 40, the son of Puerto Rican parents, found himself celebrating amid an awkward racial dynamic: As the lone Hispanic among the 18 plaintiffs who had challenged an affirmative action policy, he had also challenged an appeals court decision joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court.

Huh? Is the Slimes implying that Lt. Vargas was somehow morally wrong to go against Baroness Sotomayor I (the Wise) because they're from the same ethnic group?

MEGA PUKE ALERT

13 posted on 07/03/2009 4:52:25 PM PDT by JillValentine (Being a feminist is all about being a victim. Being an armed woman is all about not being a victim.)
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