“Good Faith" and the Legacy of Ricci v. DeStefano

ACS is co-sponsoring BLSA's Black History Month opening event on Monday, February 4th at 12:10pm, a panel discussion about Ricci v. DeStefano, a landmark disparate impact labor case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the City of New Haven violated the civil rights of a group of firefighters who were passed over for promotion. Specifically, the panel will explore the issues of the case as captured by the play “Good Faith: Four Chats about Race and the New Haven Fire Department.” 

The play, which will be showing at the Yale Repertory Theatre throughout February, takes a look at the city of New Haven, and its citizens, nearly a decade after the case, as they continue to debate the personal and political impact of the decision. The Ricci v. DeStefano case has been included in the New Haven Register’s list of Top 50 events in New Haven history. 

The panelists will include the show’s playwright Karen Hartman, as well as Gary Tinney, and Michael Briscoe, two former firefighters on whom characters in the play are based. The panel will be moderated by YLS’s own Emily Bazelon, who investigated the issues of the case in a five-part series for Slate in 2009.

The event is also co-sponsored by Yale Law Women.