A black man has been awarded more than $2 million after a judge agreed that a test he repeatedly failed was “racist.” However, when asked for an example of racial bias on the test, he gave an unbelievable answer.
In the largest legal payout in Queens history, a New York court awarded roughly 5,200 people more than $1.8 billion in compensation after ruling that they were the victims of discrimination. Incredibly, the man who was granted the largest settlement of the bunch has come forward with information regarding the racial implications.
The monumental judgment follows the court’s ruling that determined a New York State teachers’ exam has violated the civil rights of thousands of black and Hispanic applicants. The exam in question was the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test used for licensing teachers from 1994 to 2014, the New York Post reports.
Victims have been awarded as little as several hundred dollars to as much as a few million. One such failed tester is Herman Grim, who was awarded a whopping $2,055,383, which includes $1,583,114 in back pay for potentially lost wages and other compensation. Even after hiring private tutors to help him study, Grim repeatedly failed the test in his quest to become an educator.
“I can’t tell you how many times I took them. A lot! A lot!” he said.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the lawsuit is that Grim, who received the largest payout of all, couldn’t point to anything on the test that he thought was actually racist. Still, he’s excited about the money and plans to use it to pay off his home and massive credit card debt.
Records indicate that more than 90 percent of white test takers passed the exam, which consisted of 80 multiple-choice questions and an essay. Black test takers passed roughly 53 percent of the time, and Hispanics only passed at a rate of around 50 percent. The ruling didn’t seem to acknowledge any provable bias on the test itself but rather appeared to focus on the fact that black and Hispanic test takers didn’t pass at the same rate as their white counterparts.
Lawyers brought in experts to testify that the discrepancy in scores could be because some of the questions were culturally biased in favor of whites. One such example revealed a question asking applicants to explain the meaning of an Andy Warhol painting.
Despite the implications of the ruling, failing the test didn’t stop Grim from becoming an educator. In the mid-1990s, he opened a successful preschool business that ran for nearly 20 years. He then made a living as a substitute teacher until passing the certification to work in special education in Harlem.
Of course, not everyone agreed with the court’s ruling. One Brooklyn principal criticized the city for its “crazy” decision to settle.
“The standards are the standards,” he said. “It shouldn’t be based on what would be easy for blacks or whites. To hire people who are not qualified and change the requirements because a certain group didn‘t pass the test is bulls–t.”
The lawsuit battled in court for many years, racking up incredible court costs and legal fees along the way. The city argued that it was merely following the requirements mandated by the state for licensing teachers but eventually gave up the fight.
Many are unhappy with the decision, which will come out of the pockets of the taxpayers. Of course, the education system will continue to suffer as the court focuses on equity in hiring rather than the declining literacy of its own children.
