There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world. – Thomas Jefferson Vol. 7, No. 1 January 1996 Dispatches from the Front Lines I. Fighting “Racism” Rather than Fires A first-hand report on the On our hands and knees, blinded non-white and female firefighters and consequences of affirmative by thick smoke, we crawled right onto officers, hired and promoted beyond action. two unconscious people. Ed hoisted their capabilities. His job in the Arson one of them onto my shoulder, took Bureau takes him all over town, and by Robert Charles he confirmed that fires that would have been handled quickly and effi- A ffirmative action always has ciently in the past now get out of hand costs. Usually, the costs are lower and become greater alarms. standards, poor performance, bad mo- What has happened to the smooth- rale, and lost profits. In a fire depart- running department that I joined ment there can be other costs: lost nearly 30 years ago? Why have the lives. Eds of my first fire been replaced by I joined the San Francisco Fire De- all-too-many slackers, dullards and partment in mid-1966, in the days be- women who can’t pull their own fore affirmative action. I got my first weight? Water weighs eight and one house fire, just a couple of weeks out third pounds per gallon, and always of the Fire College, while I was a pro- will. So why are we saddled with un- bie (a probationary firefighter) as- dersized quota hires who can’t drag signed to Engine 36. The fire was in water-filled hose lines, and are a li- an apartment building of six or eight ability in the six-man lift when we flats, just two blocks from Station 47. need to raise a 50-foot wooden ladder This meant the men from 47 would that weighs over four hundred probably get to kick in the door and the other himself, and we ran to the pounds? get first water on the fire, not us. ambulance, which took them immedi- Why do I have to take orders from Sure enough, 47 was already there ately to the hospital. Ed gave me a a quota-hire black lieutenant who when we pulled up and hit the ground “Nice going, probie,” and we went went to a parking lot, looking for a running. They were at the door of the back to work. “Cadillac” when he should have been burning flat, but because of the heat Back in quarters a couple of hours looking for a “cardiac”? What kind of they couldn’t advance beyond the later, while cleaning equipment, I kept grade did a quota-hire black get on his front door even though their nozzle thinking how smoothly the whole entrance examination when he writes stream was at full force. As we ran up on an injury report, “He jump out the the stairs, carrying bundles of hose, “He jump out the window window and have sprangs in his an- someone yelled, “There is an old cou- and have sprangs gle”? And what is the IQ of another ple in there; they’re not outside.” quota-hire black who wrote on an inci- Ed, a 20-year veteran who had in his angle.” dent report, “The deceased greeted us been assigned to break in the new pro- at the door”? And what of the affirma- bie, grabbed my arm and said quietly, thing had run, how each man had the tive-action black who said he could “Come on, kid.” I dropped the hose strength, the size and the intelligence interpret to a Hispanic woman what a and we ran out the hallway door to the to do what had to be done, and did it fire had done to her kitchen, and told outside stairway with access to the without hesitation and usually without her “El stovo broko”? back door of each flat. Smoke was orders. Unfortunately, this is fre- I well remember a fire in August, seeping out of the door we wanted. quently not the case today. 1993, at which a woman quota-hire With a couple of kicks, Ed shattered Recently an Arson Investigator told driver/pump operator was relieved of the panel next to the knob, reached in, me what he often sees when he arrives her duties on the spot because she at fires still in progress: inefficiency, threw the bolt, and we were in the (Continued on page 3) back porch. hesitation, and confusion, mostly from American Renaissance - 1 - January 1996 the end of the belief in intrinsic racial differences in civilizational abilities– turns out to be a transparent fraud. But you don’t necessarily have to read the book to see that. One evening this past autumn as I got on a New York City bus with a copy of The End of Racism in my hand, the driver looked up at me and said: “What is that – science fiction?” Lawrence Auster, New York City Sir – I think the two articles you referred to in the December O Tem- pora item, “Straws in the Wind” are a significant and encouraging sign. Ten Sir – In his November review, or even five years ago would a main- Letters from Readers Thomas Jackson calls Dinesh stream columnist like Scott McCon- Sir – Those who read your Decem- D’Souza’s The End of Racism nell have dared to write anything that ber article on the Kansas City school “splendid” and “impressively re- was not unremittingly hostile to the system will be relieved to know that a searched and bravely argued.” This idea of racial separation? It is likewise solution is in sight to all the problems glowing praise is inconsistent with the very significant that a distinguished you pointed out. Mayor Emanuel pervasive intellectual dishonesty that Brit like Paul Johnson should write Cleaver has just appointed a task Mr. Jackson also finds in the book. calmly and almost casually that the force to conduct what he calls “the Indeed, The End of Racism is even failure of blacks to fit in in the United first honest and in-depth examination more dishonest than Mr. Jackson lets States means that they cannot be as- of race relations in Kansas City in a on. Throughout his 600-page book similated in Britain either and should quarter century.” He says that “unless Mr. D’Souza insists that there is a be encouraged to leave. we make race an issue today, it will cultural explanation for the deficien- Once people have actually seen in still be an issue tomorrow .... If we are cies in average black intelligence and print the forbidden thoughts voiced by able to somehow erase this problem behavior that he relentlessly cata- Mr. McConnell and Mr. Johnson their of race in our community, we will logues, and he labels as "racist" any- minds cannot help but be permanently become the number one city on the one who believes that these black dis- shifted – if ever so slightly – to the planet.” The mayor's task force will advantages may be at least partly he- right. be overseen by the Urban League. reditary. But when he finally dis- Andrew Harding, Tully, New York Am I the only one to notice that cusses the hereditarian position at Mayor Cleaver is implicitly conced- length, Mr. D’Souza, after much hem- ing that race is the only thing keeping ming and hawing, reluctantly admits Sir – I was glad to see your report Kansas City from being heaven on that he has no arguments against it: on Cecil McCool and Richard Will, earth? Separation is, of course, the “The Bell Curve makes a strong case two whites who were stopped by only way to keep race from being “an that cannot be ignored . The con- black Chicago police officers. The issue tomorrow,” but I somehow clusion of most scholars is that de- officers concluded that the driver was doubt that the Urban League will rec- spite many caveats, there is no scien- drunk, and impounded the car. Mr. ommend it. tific basis for rejecting the possibility Will, as you note, was later beaten and Stanley Hooke, Plattsburg, Kansas that race differences in IQ are partly then burned to death by blacks. Mr. hereditary.” McCool originally claimed that Mr. Having quietly conceded what he Will begged the officers for a ride out Sir – Judge Clark’s unconstitu- loudly denounces as “racist” every- of that dangerous part of town, and tional usurpation of the Kansas City, where else in his book, Mr. D'Souza their refusal was reported as possibly Missouri school system reminded me looks for an escape hatch: “It is possi- “racist.” Your readers should know of a prediction I have made. First, ble to reject the fatalism of genetic that Mr. McCool has now recanted, some federal judge's ruling will vio- theories of IQ differences, as I do. My saying that Mr. Will did not make late the constitution, either state or view is that . it is a ‘reasonable hy- such a request. This appears to have federal. The offended state's governor pothesis’ that [racial] IQ differences been just what the press needed. It can will reply, privately and via press con- can be explained by culture and envi- now treat the incident as one of racial ference, that if the judge wants to en- ronment.” But Mr. D’Souza offers not provocation by Mr. McCool – a typi- force his ruling he will have to deal a shred of support for that “reasonable cal, white attempt to blame blacks with the state militia.