Boise Kimber is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Baptist

American Baptist Churches USA

The American Baptist Churches USA is a Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainline, although varying theological and mission emphases may be found among its...

 minister of the First Calvary Baptist Church in New Haven, CT. He is also a commissioner of the New Haven Fire Department

Fire department

A fire department or fire brigade is a public or private organization that provides fire protection for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district...

, the president of the Greater New Haven Clergy Association, and a community activist. He received a wide media attention after being mentioned in connection with the US Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano

Ricci v. DeStefano

Ricci v. DeStefano, 129 S. Ct. 2658, 2671, 174 L. Ed. 2d 490 is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States arising from a lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, Connecticut by twenty city firefighters alleging that the city discriminated against them with regard to promotions...

.

Background

Kimber started preaching when he was 15 years old in Phenix City, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. He moved to New Haven in 1983 and became a political powerbroker.
In 1996, Kimber was convicted of stealing nearly $4,000 from an elderly woman, but did not receive jail time. The New Haven Mayor John DeStefano

John DeStefano, Jr.

John DeStefano, Jr. is the current mayor of New Haven, Connecticut. He was the Democratic candidate in 2006 for Governor of Connecticut, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell. He was also the named defendant in the landmark 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case of Ricci v...

 named Kimber a chairman of the fire commission in 2002, but he had to step down from the chairmanship amid a controversy for telling firefighters that people with "too many vowels" in their names might not be hired by the fire department.

Ricci v. DeStefano

As a commissioner, in 2004, Kimber openly lobbied to set aside the results of a firefighter's promotion exam, leading to a lawsuit by a group of 20 firefighters. In his concurring opinion

Concurring opinion

In law, a concurring opinion is a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different reasons as the basis for his or her decision...

 in Ricci v. DeStefano

Ricci v. DeStefano

Ricci v. DeStefano, 129 S. Ct. 2658, 2671, 174 L. Ed. 2d 490 is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States arising from a lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, Connecticut by twenty city firefighters alleging that the city discriminated against them with regard to promotions...

, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito

Samuel Alito

Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....

 singled out Kimber for having political motivations in that decision, which brought Kimber into the center of the controversy and led to mass media attention. In particular, Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon is an American journalist, senior editor for online magazine Slate, and a senior research fellow at Yale Law School. Her work as a writer focuses on law, abortion, and family issues.-Journalism career:...

 called Kimber "a convenient example of small-time race baiting and semi-thuggery."