By Emily Anne Epstein
The Metro - New York
NEW YORK — Decades of discrimination and litigation regarding the FDNY’s hiring practices will be tested this week when the department administers their new entrance exam.
The road to the new exam has been long and bitter, starting with a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice in 2007 that alleged the entrance exam unintentionally discriminated against blacks and other minorities.
Currently, the department is 89 percent Caucasian, 6 percent Hispanic and just 3 percent black, according to the FDNY.
“The reasons behind these numbers can be nothing but a discriminatory or bias attitude,” said Kenneth Cohen, of the NAACP.
In 2009, Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that the test was indeed discriminatory because white applicants consistently scored higher. That same judge later ordered the FDNY to develop a new exam with the help of an outside, equal opportunity consultant.
So far, 61,439 people have registered to take the new exam this Thursday, triple the average of years past and the highest amount of applicants in the exam’s history, according to the FDNY.
Cohen is hoping that the new exam will break down the barriers.
The city has fought the court’s decision every bit of the way, even trying to have Garaufis removed from the case.
That fight has left some to question whether the city wants to diversify the FDNY.
“It doesn’t give you the impression that they’re willing to correct the exams,” said Michael Marshall, vice president of the Vulcan Society, an organization that advocates for black firefighters.
Just last week, Garaufis ruled that the city could be on the hook for up to $128 million in damages because of the FDNY’s discriminatory exams.
A black firefighter weighs in
Canarsie native Philip Sylvester, 27, is the only black firefighter in his Flatbush engine. Sylvester said that when he applied, he wasn’t aware of the lack of diversity.
“Often times I’m one of the only black people on duty,” he said. “Of course you want to see someone who looks like you ... from your same background.”
He said that he’s never experienced any racism, but people outside the department are often “shocked” that he’s a firefighter.
How did the test change?
The major difference between past FDNY entrance exams and Thursday’s test is reading comprehension.
Before, reading comprehension was a major part of the test and statistically, minorities did poorer than whites, Vulcan Society vice president Michael Marshall said.
“This is a physical job, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do this,” said Marshall.
The Vulcan Society pushed for a more basic, general exam to even the playing field, said Marshall.
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