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Business equity advocates in New England say the decision comes after a federal judge in Texas ruled that an agency created to help minority-owned businesses must extend its services to all races. are concerned about the possibility that their work may be disrupted.
U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman ruled Tuesday that the federal Minority Enterprise Development Authority’s presumption that black, Latino, and other minority business owners are inherently disadvantaged is unconstitutional. was lowered. In a 93-page opinion, the Trump appointee permanently blocked the 55-year-old agency’s business center from aiding businesses based on race.
Peter Hurst, president and CEO of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, said this “wrong” ruling seeks to correct this country’s history of racial inequality. He said it was part of a larger “line of attack” against a larger movement. Hearst Development Council operates the Massachusetts MBDA Business Center.
“What’s missing the point is that we’ve had a tradition of unequal treatment and equal opportunity for businesses owned by people of color in this country,” Hurst told GBH News this week. “The whole purpose is not to take anything away from anyone, but to grow the pie.”
The ruling follows the Supreme Court’s June rulings against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s race-based admissions practices. In July, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled that the Small Business Administration must overhaul its programs focused on racial equity.
Hurst said he’s concerned not only about the impact on small businesses around New England, but also the larger impact on the local economy.
“It doesn’t just have moral implications. Certainly that’s something we should regret, but there are also economic implications,” he said. “Minority business development…creates economic output, creates and sustains jobs, and benefits the Commonwealth, the New England region, and the nation.”
Racial disparities in wages, housing, investments and assets cost Massachusetts an estimated $25 billion over five years, according to a 2021 report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. In January, Governor Maura Healey announced plans to restart public contracting to provide more opportunities for minority-owned small businesses. According to an AGBH News analysis, the share of black-owned businesses in state contracts decreased by 24% between 1998 and 2018.
Daliza Nova, director of development and strategy at the diversity nonprofit Amplify Latinx and former program director for the Massachusetts branch of the federal Minority Business Development Agency, called the decision a “heartbreaking setback.” , said it would be difficult for the organization. Focus your resources on those who need them most.
“The attacks on these programs come from the idea that we should be very inclusive, and we agree that we should have an equal society,” Nova said. . “But the reason they exist is that they’re not meant to eliminate, they’re meant to fix. How equal did you all think you were? Because for a very long time, that wasn’t the case. That’s why this exists.”
Amplify Latinx’s Latino Business Advancement Program, which provides Spanish-language coaching to “micro” businesses with less than $250,000 in annual revenue, has never excluded applicants based on race, Nova said. He says it never happened. “I don’t think white companies will come to me for Spanish language training,” she says. “But if you do, hey. We’ll work on it.”
Still, Nova was cited Tuesday as part of a larger legal trend of attacks on affirmative action and diversity efforts across the country, including recent legislation banning the teaching of African American history in schools. He said he was concerned about the decision.
“We should all be concerned. This is something that affects us all,” she said. “This is truly an erasure of our history, and it has been used to educate and create programs that were born to recognize this painful history.”
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