As a "mixed race and hispanic" I agree with most of the comments made here. I remember while growing in the 60's seeing many "qualified" black firefighters who I looked to as role models. They passed the same tests in the 50's and 60's as their white counterparts and some of them went up the ranks to become fire marshals, chiefs and even more. This was before someone came along and decided to lower the bar to admit underqualified minority candidates. They all had one thing in common, they really wanted be NYC firefighters. If someone wants to be a firefighter they should start to learn about the job in advance from current and past members, or join a volunteer dept./organization, cadet corps, etc. and stay away from drugs and crime. Almost all of what I learned about firefighting was from white firefighters because they saw me as an American kid which is what I consider myself not hispanic, indian, black, etc.