In a fine show of indignation, Congressman Bobby Rush and other black leaders want the Justice Department to investigate the Chicago Police Department’s test for promotion to sergeant.
I support Rush 100 percent on that demand. The exam and the results should be carefully examined by experts in testing, reading, criminology, psychology, civil rights, law and any other field that might be helpful.
If Rush is correct in his scatter-shot denunciation of the tests as being racially biased, then the facts should be brought to the public’s attention.
But if there are other reasons why black policemen scored so miserably, these facts should be explored too.
Listening to the outrage of Rush and others, you might believe it’s unthinkable that white policemen would score so much better on the sergeant’s exam.
Why should this be unthinkable and shocking? Why does it necessarily reflect some terrible political plot to deny black cops a promotion?
That black cops might not score as well as whites is not unthinkable or shocking to me. And it shouldn’t be to Rush or anybody else who is at all familiar with the social, economic and educational problems in this and other big cities.
If Rush has been paying attention, then he should know that Chicago’s public schools-particularly those in the poorest parts of town-are considered pretty miserable.
Rush must know how badly the students score in all the standard tests and how high the dropout rate is. He surely knows about the gangs, random violence and other distractions.
And he must be aware of the steady and stunning increase in the number of illegitimate black children born to teenage mothers, the absence of fathers and strong family ties, unemployment, illiteracy and all the other social problems that have been giving this country nervous fits for so many decades.
So where does Rush think the average black cop in Chicago came from? New Trier Township, or maybe Minneapolis, or Portland, Ore.? Is he under the impression that they went to Chicago’s private Latin or Francis Parker High Schools?
If so, he’s daft. The majority of black Chicago cops went to schools in black Chicago neighborhoods.
And that means they almost certainly didn’t read as well, write as well, or have the same study habits that white cops did.
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That’s because the white cops would have gone to the better public or parochial schools in the city’s less-troubled neighborhoods or the suburbs. They would likely have come from more stable families, developed better study habits and had more college education after they finished high school and while they were on the police force.
And it is also likely that a young black man or woman with a college background might be more inclined to take a better-paying and less-harrowing job in the private sector.
If Rush is shocked by the poor test results of black cops, maybe he should check out the medical schools, the law schools and the statistics on who gets the majority of advanced degrees in just about any other field.
Is he going to demand that Janet Reno launch an investigation into why there are so many more white surgeons than black in Chicago’s biggest and best hospitals?
By most accounts, the sergeant’s test was fair. It was put together by an outside testing firm, not Chicago cops or politicians. Study materials were offered. It was designed to reward the person who worked hardest to prepare for it.
Sort of like basketball, which rewards the players who devote the most effort and time to practicing and developing the skills that bring high school stardom and maybe a college scholarship or professional contract.
That’s why it wouldn’t occur to me or anyone else to ask why most of the players on Dream Team II are black. Or why there appears to be a lopsided number of college basketball scholarships given to black players. Or why they dominate professional basketball.
I know why. Basketball is the ideal low-income city sport, requiring only one hoop and one ball for a game. It can be the ticket to a neighborhood reputation, a scholarship or wealth. So black kids work hard at basketball while their white counterparts have many more recreational options.
If Rush can figure out a way to make the Three R’s as challenging as a behind-the-back pass or a slam-dunk, he might be closer to understanding the results of the sergeant’s exam. But Janet Reno won’t have an answer for him. He might try talking to any harried Chicago school teacher.