With a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in health administration, Hilary Ogunrinde planned to be a doctor.
But against her parents’ best wishes, the 29-year-old Ogunrinde answered a call and need for new leadership and launched herself into the fight to gain more minority representation on public contracts.
“My dad wasn’t OK for awhile. He didn’t pay for all that schooling for me to be out there fighting,” Ogunrinde said, adding that her family owns a construction services company. “It’s not a journey that he thought I would have to take.”
But Ogunrinde said she had no choice as she learned that subcontracts issued by Missouri Department of Transportation under the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program were awarded primarily to white women. Blacks were receiving 12 percent of the work and white women 88 percent.
When members of the African-American Business and Contractors Association (AABCA) and the Metro East Business Contractors Organization (MEBCO) decided a week ago to protest against the lack of African-American contractors on major construction projects – especially on MoDOT and IDOT’s first contract on the $640 million New Mississippi River Bridge Project – three new people agreed to lead as older activists took a step back.
Ogunrinde and 36-year-old Pat Clark, vice president of MEBCO, committed themselves, recognizing their styles would differ from activists of the past. A third person bowed out quickly, citing fear that he could lose his job.
Clark agreed to stand with Ogunrinde, but reminded her that her decision could cost her family dearly because some entities may choose to deny them work.
Clark, whose family has owned Clark Trucking and Excavations LLC for 21 years, said retaliation is a reality, but he is not fearful. “It is a reality because backlash will come from people resistant to change,” he said. “But I strongly believe that the possible benefits will outweigh the backlash and that makes it all worthwhile.”
The group decided on a Downtown demonstration this week, commemorating the anniversary date of a 1999 protest that shut down Interstate 70, prompted 125 arrests and catapulted this region’s issues with minority contractors to a national stage.
With about five days notice, some 20 demonstrators stood on an overpass near the Arch grounds Monday. They held protest signs as drivers blocked four lanes of traffic on I-70 near Memorial Drive headed eastbound, briefly at 4:43 p.m. and then again briefly at 5:03 p.m. Police on motorcycles followed the westbound drivers and issued tickets for impeding traffic.
While Ogunrinde demonstrated, her mother lay prostrate on the floor at work praying for her daughter’s safety and the safety of the other demonstrators.
At the table and in the streets
To some, it seems odd for AABCA and MEBCO to demonstrate when MoDOT and IDOT officials are working to increase minority subcontractors on the New Mississippi River Project.
The first request for bids will be issued in September. Currently transportation officials are requesting that the federal government allow them to separately classify minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses when issuing government contracts. If the two groups are separated, officials can set separate minority goals and women goals as a way to increase the number of contracts awarded to minorities.
Ogunrinde said they are taking a cue from the union movement.
“Historically, the black movement has saved protest for the end, after they have exhausted all other measures,” Ogunrinde said.
“But if you look at the history of the union movement, the union will be sitting at the table and having a protest outside.”
One major black organization wanted no part of the protest, and Ogunrinde said she understood. MOKAN, a minority contractors association instrumental in the 1999 protest, declined to participate, saying they are working closely with MoDOT.
But just a week prior, MOKAN Executive Director Yaphett El-Amin blasted MoDOT and IDOT officials at an information-gathering meeting for not hiring minorities within their own organizations and in awarding contracts. She also threatened to demand a federal investigation.
But now, El-Amin said in a news release, “We have been engaged in ongoing conversations with MoDOT and IDOT that we believe are bringing us closer to our objectives.”
Currently, MOKAN receives $200,000 from MoDOT to fund its Construction Prep Center, which prepares minorities to enter the construction fields. The center began as an outcome of the 1999 protest.
Old and new generations
As the U.S. Park Service searched for the leaders of the protest to issue warnings to them and to persuade them to move off the sidewalk, which was bustling with tourists in town for the All-Star game, they started with Eric E. Vickers. He spearheaded the protest in 1999 on I-70 at Goodfellow Boulevard.
“Eric,” a park ranger began.
“I’m just an observer,” Vickers insisted, as he stood proudly watching the stalled traffic on I-70 while police on motorcycles gave chase.
Dressed in a suit and holding a 32 ounce cup of water, Vickers moved under a tree on the Arch grounds for shade and watched the protest from a distance, staying in contact with the young leaders by phone.
He said the 1999 protest prompted change that resulted in more minorities being included in the construction field. But finding that more women are awarded contracts than minorities is alarming, he said.
“That’s not creating the economic development we want,” Vickers said.
“The demonstration says there is still work to be done, and it sends a good message that this new generation of entrepreneurs and advocates are serious about bringing about change and continuing the struggle.”
The protest and continued pressure helps MoDOT and IDOT, Vickers said. As the departments of transportation face opposition from strong organizations such as the Associated General Contractors of America, Vickers said, it is important that the community show support for the proposal to separate the goals.
“We cannot assume that MoDOT and IDOT can carry the weight of opposition all on their own,” he said.
Leonard Toenjes, president of the AGC, said his organization opposes the separation, though it supports greater minority representation in the construction field. Toenjes has said the division of the inclusion goals is not the current law and that the transportation departments are rushing to receive a waiver from the government just weeks before awarding contracts.
“When the waiver reaches their desks (in Washington), we want them to recognize it is the community at-large asking for the waiver,” Clark said.
He said the inclusion goals should be separated into 50 percent for women subcontractors and 50 percent for minorities.
“There are the same or more MBEs than WBEs,” he said. “Why shouldn’t the opportunities be the same?”
‘The burden of our people’
After the quiet demonstration, all participants met at the Cochran Community Center to hold a news conference. The older activists in the room seemed full of energy and life, some munching on chicken and drinking soda. Ogunrinde and Clark appeared tired and worn as they addressed the media, while an earlier generation of activists such as Vickers, Mikal Ali and Brother Anthony Shahid sat on the bleachers and listened.
At the end of the news conference, Vickers stood and said, “I, and so many others, are so very, very proud. I applaud you and this new generation. I want you to continue on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Ali, who is the president of AABCA, said he is proud of the young leadership and recognizes their style is different than his.
“They are intelligent enough to negotiate, but they are courageous enough to fight,” Ali said. “You can’t beat that, so we are blessed.”
In the coming weeks Ogunrinde and Clark will meet with five of the main general contractors on MoDOT projects to offer AABCA as a resource to find qualified minority companies, she said.
Clark said representatives from U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and other politicians have been sending representatives to their meetings.
But Ogunrinde knows there is a price to pay as she enters this work. “I feel flattered, honored and privileged,” she said. “But I definitely feel the burden of our people rests on our shoulders.”