Black and Latino Firefighters in New Haven Vow Post-Supreme Court Unity

The folloiwng excerpt is from NewHavenIndependent.org, June 25, 2009, where the entire article is posted.

In the final days before the Supreme Court rules on a racially divisive promotion case, some black and Hispanic firefighters vowed to put the Ricci case behind them and proceed in solidarity.

The Greater New Haven NAACP hosted a press conference Wednesday evening with firefighters, city black and Latino political leaders, as well as the head of the International Association of Hispanic Firefighters. The event followed a series of discussions prompted by “racial and ethnic tensions caused by the Ricci v DeStefano lawsuit,” according to the NAACP.

About eight black firefighters attended, as well as the city’s new corporation counsel, Victor Bolden.

In Ricci, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule Monday on whether the city unconstitutionally denied promotions to 20 New Haven firefighters — 19 white, one Hispanic — because no black candidates scored high enough on a test. The case has become a national lightning rod in the debate on racial hiring.

The case has “pitted racial and ethnic groups against each other at the New Haven Fire Department,” read a statement sent out by the NAACP before Wednesday afternoon’s event.

Assistant Drillmaster Rene Cordova (pictured above), president of the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association, joined a series of speakers in pledging to move forward from the case, regardless of the outcome.

“We’re here because we need to really get joined together as a department, as members of the department, and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Cordova said.

Notably absent at the Wednesday coming-together event were any other local Hispanic firefighters. Only Cordova made it to the rainy press conference at Fair Haven’s Criscuolo Park.  He said he was not there to represent that organization, but was merely speaking for himself.

The event was held at symbolic juncture for the two minority groups: At a monument for African-American Civil War soldiers at Criscuolo Park, in the heart of the city’s Latino community.

“It’s in our best interest to work together,” said Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, president of the aldermanic Black and Hispanic Caucus, regardless of what happens with the Ricci case. He stressed the importance of revamping the city’s flawed testing process.

 

“There was some healing that had to be done within the firefighters, both Hispanic and African-American,” before a Ricci ruling came out, said James Rawlings (pictured above), the head of the Greater New Haven NAACP. He helped mediate a series of meetings over the past year between the black firefighters in the New Haven Firebirds organization and their Hispanic counterparts. The goal of the meetings, he said, was to help the groups find common ground on “civil rights advancement” and to build a better future for their children. Terry Roundtree, vice-president of the Firebirds, expressed optimism about the new peace pact.

“We face a lot of things together as minorities, and for us to be divided and separated is not a good thing,” he said. “From this day forward, hopefully, we can work together” and find common ground.

To amplify their message, organizers invited Ronald Morales, president of the International Association of Hispanic Firefighters. In a March 25 amicus brief, the group publicly sided with the city in the Ricci case, supporting a stand taken by the New Haven Firebirds.

The move came on the heels of a similar brief from the International Association of Professional Black Firefighters, which called the Ricci suit an “attack on minority firefighters.”

 

“Entrenched” Power

Even after the international Hispanic group took a stance, local Latino firefighters have remained mum on the subject. Questioned by reporters Wednesday, Cordova declined to take a position on Ricci. He has repeatedly said his group is not political and intends to stay out of the Ricci fray

When pressed , he described how the city sought his group’s support in throwing out the promotional test, but said he didn’t take the “bait.” He and an active member of the Latino group expressed support for the New Haven 20, though his colleague would only do so without being named. Source:  NewHavenIndependent.org

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