Michael Newman has worked for the Illinois
Department of Corrections, Wells Fargo Bank, and the Springfield
Urban League. All three of those jobs required background checks,
which, Newman says, he passed with no problem. So when he applied
to the Springfield Fire Department, Newman — a U.S. Navy
veteran — felt confident.
“I wasn’t the least bit worried
about my ability to pass the test or to perform the job,” he
says.
Sure enough, Newman passed the written and
physical tests with scores high enough to earn a spot in the top
tier of recruits, known as the “A” band under the new
banding system adopted by the city in an effort to increase
minority representation in the police and fire departments. A few
months after he submitted information for his background check, he
was sent to St. Louis to undergo a psychological evaluation, which
boosted his confidence.
“After I left the [exam] room, I
realized it wasn’t something to worry about,” he
says.
So Newman was stunned when he received a
letter last week informing him he had flunked the background check.
Newman — a 30-year-old Springfield native — has no
criminal history and says his financial record has passed muster
with his current employer, a bank.
“I have no clue, honestly,” he
says. “The letter simply states I’ve been disqualified
based on my background.”
When he called the city’s
human-resources department, he was told that city policy prohibited
further explanation. In the past, rejected candidates have had to
file lawsuits to discover why they weren’t hired.
Newman’s disqualification means more
than just the loss of a job for one man. As the only
African-American in the top band of the eligibility list, Newman represented the best chance for SFD
to add minorities to its ranks. On a roster of 211 firefighters, SFD
now has just three African-Americans — less than 1.5 percent in a
city that’s more than 13 percent black.
After initial testing in January, the top two
bands of SFD’s hiring list included 71 recruits. These
applicants submitted criminal, financial, and employment histories,
which were then investigated by SPD detectives. Results were
delivered to the civil-service commission for consideration at its
July 19 meeting. The three commission members in attendance (two
were absent) reviewed the background packets and decided who passed
and who failed. Newman, the only black male among 18 candidates in
the top band, was rejected.
The second band included three
African-American males. The civil service commission approved one
and rejected one; the third African- American male is still under
consideration, says city spokesperson Ernie Slottag. Even if both
become firefighters, SFD’s paltry percentage of blacks may
not change, since two of the three black firefighters currently on
the job are older than 50 and eligible to retire.
Ken Page, president of the Springfield branch
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
says that the situation won’t improve as long as the
civil-service commission can’t reveal how these decisions are
made.
“Do you have a checklist? Can we see
it? Are some things weighted?” he asks. “We have no
idea about these processes. This system should be dissected to see
what’s wrong. You can never correct a system if no one opens
it up.”
Newman says the other African-American male
rejected by the civil service commission is a personal friend of
his — a man who recently accepted a job driving an armored truck.
“He can carry a gun and guard untold sums of money, but not carry
a fire hose,” Newman says.
Newman applied to SFD hoping to land
“an honorable job,” and says that he was encouraged by
the look of pride in his 11-year-old son’s eyes when he
announced his intention to become a firefighter.
“The benefits are great and the pay is
good, but it would be a great feeling to know that you’re
contributing every day that you go to work,” Newman says.
“It is disheartening to be in a city
where you grew up and find out you can’t even serve your
community.”
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2005.
