Saturday, July 18, 2015

And Justice for All: Minority Report by John Milardo

 Republished in its original format with permission from John Milardo. Click to enlarge






20 comments:

  1. This tells me that there are those who think minorities are incapable of being held to the same standard as non-minorities. Is that not racist or bigoted? Frankly, I find it rather insulting.

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  2. It took a while after reading this commentary, but now that it has sunk in, I am deeply offended, and frankly angered, by Mayor Drew and the Common Counsel's lowering of standards for the purpose of hiring more minorities on the Middletown police and fire departments.

    Why would this anger and offend a white boy from the mid-west? Because my four children are minorities. The oldest is half Native-American. The younger three are half Cuban. (Many readers may remember their great uncle, Carlos, who owned Hall's Diner.)

    It took time for this to sink in because I don't think of my children, or people in general, as being "minority" or "majority". I look at my children as my children; as a part of me, and people generally as individuals, without regard to the color of their skin or their ethnicity or whatever.

    What the decision to lower standards for minorities tells me, is that my minority children are inferior and cannot be held to the same standard as the white majority and therefore, special accommodations need to be made so that the police and fire departments can be "diversified".

    Shame on Mayor Drew and any counsel member, Republican or Democrat, that voted to approve this travesty. SMH

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  3. Right on this is a travesty! Drew held a press conference and said he was relaxing standards to target minorities, how is that not racist & insulting?!! This should be on the front of every newspaper where is the courant & press?! Letters to editors are needed

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  4. This proposal is not a lowering of standards. The proposal is entirely racially neutral. The proposal removes a financial barrier that makes it more difficult for economically disadvantaged people to become candidates for jobs. Because more minorities than non-minorities are economically disadvantaged the proposal is likely to help more minorities become candidates.

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  5. So minorities are poor? That's a very racist stereotype. A legit reason is because emt registration expires if your not an active emt, so to wave can make some sense, but why the Mayor held a press conference with the NAACP and link to a minorities applicant issue is highly questionable.

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  6. The claim that a much higher percentage of minorities are economically disadvantaged is not racist, it is a demonstrable fact.

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  7. So demonstrate it. Actually you font read do good; & have missed the point and are purposely arguing an irrerelevant point to divert attention. When the Mayor holds a press conference with leaders of the NAACP and MAKE it about race is RACIAL. Which dem town committee lacky are you BTW?

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  8. If you write coherently I will respond.

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  9. Everyone is missing the real point! Dan really doesn't care one way or the other! It's election year and he looking for votes and doesn't care who or what cause he uses to get them! You are falling right into his game plan.

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  10. John, it is you that has missed the point. The proposal is a good one, regardless of who made it or why.

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  11. Lisa or Marie out as dem pitbull today?

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  12. "The claim that a much higher percentage of minorities are economically disadvantaged is not racist, it is a demonstrable fact."

    Minorities are "economically challenged" becasue they are incapable of being independent of the white massa, so the white massa dumbs down the standards in order to pander for votes.

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  13. To anonymous of July 25, 2015 @ 10:47am:
    Yeah, right! Of course I missed the point! So all the misinformation given to the Common Council members to pressure them to ensure Dan's proposal would go through was the right thing to do?
    Rrrigghhttttt! I missed the point!

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  14. Regardless of any spin you, Drew, or anyone else wants to put on it, it is a good proposal.

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  15. Anonymous 4:59 a.m. If your point is the removal of the EMT standard is a good proposal you are the one missing the boat. A first responder is required to be an EMT. Years ago members of Middletown Police had to carry the certification until it switched over to Fire. While we are on the topic of qualifications, a candidate for a police officer must pass the POST agility test AND a written aptitude test. Should those qualifications be removed as well under your theory. The City failed to properly recruit for the position of firefighter by expanding its outreach well in advance of the opening examinations. The entire spin that is being put on this is that minorities are from lower economic classes and can't afford to achieve EMT certification. I can pretty much not think of one young adult today who does not have some form of loan for continuing education. The bottom line is that Drew has been Mayor for multiple terms and he failed in recruiting efforts. What would be interesting is to have the City list the hiring reporting for ALL city vacancies. I'm pretty confident that if they did you would find minorities and protected class individuals were passed over by the who's who of a local sports bar.

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  16. 1. The proposal does not remove the EMT standard, a candidate is required to obtain EMT certification after obtaining the job.
    2. The issue of agility and aptitude testing is irrelevant to the discussion. There is no reason to change those requirements since they do not impose financial barriers on potential applicants.
    3. While it may be possible to obtain loans in order to get EMT certification, many responsible young people who are struggling economically are not willing to take out loans to get a certification when the time and expense may or may not lead to a job. It makes sense to allow people to become certified after they have the position.
    No requirements for the job are being eliminated or lowered.

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  17. What about all the lawsuits? A employee in water & sewer got a $1.2 million settlement for discrimination on the job while Drews been in office.

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  18. Since Drew has been in office and the Counsel controlled by Democrats, the city grand list has declined and the annual budget has increased by nearly 20 million dollars. The 78 mill you mention does not include the 30 or so million Middletown gets in aid from state and federal taxpayers, via "grants" (of someone else's money). The actual school budget is something in the neighborhood of $98M.

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  19. In last week's letter to the editor, (both here and in the Middletown Press), I blasted Mayor Drew and his joint announcement with the NAACP for the lowering of standards for applicants to the city's police and fire departments by eliminating the EMT certification requirement, as an effort to "diversify" these departments. Clearly, this is just pandering to minorities during an election year.

    I took offense to this because my four children are themselves minorities and I don't think they should be held to a lesser standard than their father because of it. Regrettably, when I shot off my mouth, I hit myself in the foot by impugning the entire Common Counsel, along with Mayor Drew and the NAACP, for sending the message that minorities cannot be held to the same standard as non-minorities because they are inferior.

    Whether or not this change in the requirements for police and fire applicants is a good idea is debatable. There are good arguments to be made, both for and against. But let me make it clear that the Common Counsel is not guilty of making their decision as a means of pandering to minority voters. The blame for that lies fully on Mayor Drew and the NAACP leadership.

    Not only is it time for new leadership at City Hall, but it seems that perhaps the NAACP may also be in need of a change in leadership. Maybe it is time to abandon the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in favor of a National Association for the Advancement of People. Shouldn't we stop looking at each other in terms of race or ethnicity? What a novel idea!

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  20. Again, the actual proposal up for consideration got lost in the presentation which often happens in Middletown. The news conference with the Mayor and NAACP appears to be a political ploy for the election season. It totally overshadowed the underlying question.

    In Middletown, decisions are often made based on the wants and desires of a few or select group, be it appointing volunteers to committees, installing bike racks, or removing sidewalks rather than dealing objectively with the underlying question. It's an election year, an important election year because we now have 4 year terms for both the Council and the Mayor, so we voting residents need to pay attention and not be distracted by those looking to confuse us.

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