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Judge Lyle Cook orders the city of Berkeley, CA to promote eight white firemen who were passed over in favor of minority race candidates, claiming reverse discrimination.
1975 (Feb 15)
Alameda County, California, Superior Court Judge Lyle Cook ordered the city of Berkeley to promote eight white firemen who were passed over in favor of minority race candidates. Judge Cook ruled that the city's affirmative action program, introduced in 1972, was unconstitutional because it amounted to discrimination in reverse. According to the 1972 act, persons of minority races should be represented in the fire department in proportion to their population in the city. Whites, however, complained that they were discriminated against because non-whites were hired and promoted ahead of them on the basis of quota rather than merit. Judge Cook agreed that ignoring competitive examinations to hire and promote minority persons violated the Berkeley Charter, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.