Not content with wrecking the U.S. military by permitting “transgenders” in the foxhole, the Biden administration is now suing the South Bend, Indiana, police department.
The reason: It’s “discriminating” against blacks and women because too many are failing the tests to become an entry-level cop. Women are failing the physical-fitness portion at higher rates than white men, while blacks are failing the written portion at higher rates than white men.
X users are posting what they say are questions from the written test. If they are, the questions are so easy a sharp seventh- or eighth-grader could answer them.
Leading the lawsuit is the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, Kristen Clarke, an anti-white radical once arrested for knifing her husband.
The Lawsuit
Filed on October 11, the nine-page lawsuit describes the tests in detail and disclosed the percentages of blacks and women who fail them.
The lawsuit targets the fitness test first.
It “requires applicants to perform six activities, including a vertical jump, sit-ups, 300-meter run, push-ups, 1.5-mile run, and a pistol trigger pull. To pass the PFT, candidates must meet specific standards for each of the six PFT components.”
Sounds easy enough for the physically fit, but alas, “since at least 2016, female applicants have passed the PFT at a lower rate than male applicants,” the lawsuit complains:
From 2016 through August 2019, approximately 87.6 percent of male test-takers passed the PFT, while approximately 45.5 percent of female test-takers passed.
Despite lowering standards so fewer women would fail, since August 2019, just 47.4 percent of women passed versus 83.8 percent of men passed, a sign that Americans are growing more out of shape as the years pass. On that note, a Pentagon study released in 2022 found that almost 80 percent of Americans ages 17-24 were ineligible for military service because they are too out of shape, too mentally ill, or too addicted to drugs.
The written test “includes 120-130 multiple choice questions broken down into seven sections: (1) Learn and Apply Knowledge; (2) Observe and Accurately Describe Events and Objects; (3) Remember Identifying Information; and (4) Remember Shapes and Spatial Relationships; (5) Complete Routine Forms; (6) Grammar; and (7) Spelling,” the lawsuit explains.
Before 2017, a score of 82 was the passing grade. Since then, it has been 80 percent, a high C in a good elementary or high school.
Substantially fewer blacks than whites are passing the test, the lawsuit complains:
Since at least 2016, African-American applicants have passed the written test at a lower rate than white applicants. Approximately 84.1 percent of white test-takers passed the written test, while approximately 62.8 percent of African-American test-takers passed.
Because the test has a “disparate impact” on blacks and women, DOJ expects the department to drop it.
Clarke’s name appears at the top of the list of attorneys who are pursuing the city, all but one of whom are women.
Test Questions
Anyone with a high-school education should have the math, reading, and other abilities to pass the test.
One question offers a list of four items stolen from a dentist’s office, with values ranging from $125 to $810. The question asks the applicant to add the three-digit numbers for a total, then asks the applicant to subtract one item.
Another question asks the applicant to calculate the number of miles an officer must travel on three roads to arrive at an accident scene. Numbers to add: two, three, and 12.
Something of a legal question explains the First, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution. It then offers four scenarios involving a defendant, and asks which of them best describes the Fifth.
Others are shockingly easy and involve basic English:
There were three __________ at the accident scene.
A. witness
B. witnesses
C. witness’ …
The Lieutenant decided __________ was enough evidence to issue a warrant.
A. there
B. their
C. they’re
- there
- their
- they’re
The lawsuit does not discuss the pass-fail rates of Asians, Hispanics, or other racial groups.
Unlike the Maryland State Police, which recently settled a similar lawsuit, South Bend says it will “vigorously defend” itself.
The city said the physical fitness is “consistent” with the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, “which sets the minimum physical standard for police officers.”
The written test, it said, is “regularly evaluated” to ensure its fairness, and applicants can receive free tutoring before taking it.
Moreover, the number of blacks and women in the department — 11.5 percent and 9.9 percent — are close to the national averages, 11.6 percent and 13.5 percent, the city said.
Like many cities in Indiana, South Bend uses the NPost test endorsed by the Indiana Police Chiefs Association. That means DOJ might sue any city that uses it.
The import of the lawsuit is that the “disparate impact” is the fault of the test, not the test-taker.
Police work requires basic math and reading skills, along with a basic familiarity with criminal and constitutional law.
Amusingly, the mayor of South Bend from 2012 through 2020 was none other than homosexual Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Kristen Clarke
For her part, Clarke is an anti-white, far-left activist once arrested, again, for knifing her husband. She almost cut off his finger. Cops were called to the couple’s home nine times.
Asked about that arrest in a written question during the confirmation process for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Clarke lied by saying she was never arrested for a violent crime.
She’s also a fangirl of cop-killer Mumia al Jamal, who murdered Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner in 1981. She thinks Jamal was a “scapegoat” and “lynch victim.” She has also likened police to the Ku Klux Klan.
Clarke is also a black supremacist. In college, in a piece for the Harvard’s Crimson newspaper, she wrote that blacks were intellectually superior to whites.
