“font-family: Verdana;”>I was pleased to read recent stories of initiatives to include more blacks on construction projects and in the local economy. But with the minority inclusion movement now over three decades old – dating to the 10 percent minority set aside of the $4 billion 1977 Public Works Act – I found myself asking if these stories represent real change.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Maryland Congressman Parren J. Mitchell, in authoring the 1977 legislation, saw economic development as the final stage of the Civil Rights Movement. Over the course of the years since the laws’ enactment, three factors emerged that should cause us to reflect on minority inclusion and its impact on black economic development.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The first factor was the outright resistance to blacks and minorities being included in the economic mainstream. Immediately after passage of the set-aside law, a well-funded war on inclusion was waged through the courts by white contractors. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that Mitchell’s legislation was constitutional, the attack on inclusion continued and intensified.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>In 1989, in a major setback, the Supreme Court struck down the City of Richmond’s 30 percent minority inclusion law, but left a crack open for minority inclusion laws being structured to be constitutional. A year later, St. Louis signed a federal court consent decree establishing a 25 percent minority inclusion law.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The resistance to minority inclusion thereafter became less overt, but more complex, confining and conniving. Because minority inclusion percentages could now be lawfully legislated, the resistance became that of limiting the percentages, and of contriving ways – such as “front company” arrangements – to circumvent inclusion. Moreover, minority inclusion devolved into “diversity” inclusion, which undermined the focus on black economic development.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The second factor that should cause reflection is the role of the black entrepreneurs spawned by minority inclusion. Over this generational span of time, minority inclusion has become an industry itself, opening up opportunities for black businesses across the spectrum of the economy – from construction to telecommunications to information technology.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>However, the role of black entrepreneurs in advancing the black economic movement has come under criticism for their not hiring other blacks, being centered on status rather than the community, and being used as “pass throughs” by white businesses.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>This was not what Mitchell envisioned with the 1977 law, which was premised on studies showing that minority businesses hired minority employees more than white businesses. Mitchell not only expected minority firms receiving public contracts to hire minorities, he expected a black entrepreneurial class that would propel black economic advancement beyond set aside laws.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The third factor that bears contemplation is whether the inclusion movement is alone capable of providing the economic transformation needed by the black community. The theory of inclusion rests on the mainstream economy – i.e., capitalism – and three decades of experience with inclusion should cause us to wonder whether the black community can achieve economic parity and vitality solely within this framework.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Perhaps parallel energy must be put into a self-help economic model, such as that once epitomized by the Nation of Islam, whose annual revenue from its business enterprises exceeded $50 million. While black spending power in America is legendary for being the equivalent of a nation, black businesses tap into only a fraction of the black consumer market.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Minority inclusion should be a fixture because it represents for blacks and minorities at least a minimum slice of the economic pie. But the passage of time teaches that inclusion should be just one of the tools for black economic development – the final stage of the Civil Rights Movement.
