Robert Kenny Wilks

COLUMN ONE : Battling to Climb the Ladder : On a fire department roster in Alabama, the debate over reverse discrimination is framed in very personal terms that could change legal history.

February 7, 1990 | BARRY SIEGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Listen to the two men even briefly, and the similarities between Robert (Kenny) Wilks and Jackie Barton are apparent: Both graduated from Birmingham high schools in 1967, Wilks the son of a steelworker, Barton of a railroad man. Both now are Birmingham firefighters, one 40, the other 41. Both work out of Fire Station 10 in Avondale, 20 blocks due east of downtown. The differences between the two men, however, are even more apparent. Wilks is white, Barton black.

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COLUMN ONE : Battling to Climb the Ladder : On a fire department roster in Alabama, the debate over reverse discrimination is framed in very personal terms that could change legal history.

February 7, 1990 | BARRY SIEGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Listen to the two men even briefly, and the similarities between Robert (Kenny) Wilks and Jackie Barton are apparent: Both graduated from Birmingham high schools in 1967, Wilks the son of a steelworker, Barton of a railroad man. Both now are Birmingham firefighters, one 40, the other 41. Both work out of Fire Station 10 in Avondale, 20 blocks due east of downtown. The differences between the two men, however, are even more apparent. Wilks is white, Barton black.

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