More Philliness (PFD related)

This one comes straight from ALa at Blonde Sagacity:

Black on White Hate Crime in the Philly Fire Department

Ok, before I even start here: In the interest of full disclosure, I am closely tied to the Philadelphia Fire Department through various family members and friends (as most of you already know).

That being said, I have blogged numerous times on the fairly new anti-hiring quota organization CAFFA --and my unabashed, full support for what they are doing.

It is the CONCERNED AMERICAN FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION (American, not white).

OBJECTIVES:
*Fair Hiring and Promotional Practices for ALL Firefighters & Paramedics
*The Elimination of Race Based Quotas in the Fire Service.
*Rank Order Hiring and Promoting.
*Reduce the Weight or Eliminate Oral Examinations Altogether.

Lt. Joseph Montague, a Lieutenant in the PFD and the Vice President of CAFFA-Philadelphia (and incidentally a Caucasian man), was recently transferred to a station in a mostly (all)-black neighborhood (a random assignment?). When he got into work on Friday he was greeted with a white hood hanging on his locker that read "KKKaffa".

"I was scared," Montague said. "I was very scared. I kind of took it as a threat and a warning. The threat being we know who you are, where you work and we're watching you. Unfortunately, some people perceive that as a race issue," Montague said. "Anytime race is involved and you're a white person, I guess you're automatically included in the Ku Klux Klan." (source)

To the credit of the Philadelphia Police Department, this is being investigated by the hate crimes unit and I have it on good authority that the pillow case hood has been sent to a lab for DNA testing...

Being anti-quota does not mean anti-EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. CAFFA is currently holding the city to the (unconstitutional) 12% percent of each class at the Fire Academy for African-American applicants. (For years and years it has well exceeded this percentage). CAFFA is not opposed to affirmative-action hiring, but wants neutral testing so that department applicants can compete for positions, regardless of their race. (source)

Though my brother recently scored an excellent 99% on the exam, I don't believe he would have made it into this next class without the "watchdog" CAFFA...