Palm Beach County needs to make white contractors hire Black firms for county work
Once again the county commission wants to study the problem. That is, its Small/Minority/Women Business Enterprise program. This is, and always has been, a delay tactic to do nothing.
The problem is, white business owners do not want minority businesses to get any piece of the county contracts, even though Blacks contribute to taxes that pay them.
The county MUST fix this problem. The problem is, 92% of white business owners refuse to share.
I opened a printing business in 1987. I ran the business for 10 years. There were only two black-owned printing businesses in the entire county. There was one in West Palm Beach and mine in Boca Raton. I went through the process to become a certified minority contractor but in 10 years never got a contract with the county. The answer was, “We have our own printing shop.” So, I asked, “Do you ever have overflow requirements?" "Not really," I was told, "but we will consider you if we do.” So, I went to the Tourist Development Council agencies, primarily, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, with their hundreds of brochures. Again I was told, “We will call you if we have anything.”
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I went to the school district. “Printing is handled by the individual schools.” Really? What about all the district-wide tests, instructions, policies, etc.? "We have our own print shop." So, I went to the schools. Luckily two principals felt sorry for me and gave me some work. I was grateful. What I could not understand was how I could receive two federal contracts from the Navy in Tennessee and Virginia and nothing from the county.
In 1990, after the case “Richmond Virginia v. J.A. Croson Co.” went to the Supreme Court to determine if minority businesses could get a piece of the pie with “set-asides,” whites cried foul. That is, “reverse discrimination." It is so funny that some whites cannot see discrimination until they feel threatened. After that, Palm Beach County did a disparity study, seeking to increase minority participation in county business. I sat on the task force and listened to the arguments of why not: “Reverse discrimination,” they said. "NO quotas, NO “set-asides,” they said. “That would be unfair. Let them compete like we have to.”
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One day, I asked a critical question of the task force head. “How much are Blacks getting now? The answer was 2.364%.That obviously did not include my business. So I said, that means non-Blacks, and primarily whites, are getting 97.654% of all county contracts. So, I asked the real question: How much do you want? How much would be the right amount for white-owned businesses to get? Silence! The answer is, you will not be happy until you have it all. I got up and left the room.
So now, 34 years later, the county wants to do another disparity study. We know it will come back with the same. And notice, Blacks are still at 2% participation.
As Tonya Davis Johnson, Director of the office of Equal Business Opportunity said, white contractors are refusing to award work to businesses certified by her office. That’s the problem. “Whites and white-owned contractors, do not want to do business with Black-owned businesses. Whites want it all! That’s what greed looks like in this “Free state of Florida.”
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The only lingering question for the county administration and commissioners is, what are you going to do about the fact that whites refuse to comply with your ordinances? Why do you keep awarding contracts to owners who do not comply with county rules?
I have an answer, if you want it. Other cities have solved this problem. I am from Atlanta, where Mayor Maynard Jackson dealt with this in the 70’s to great success. Hartsfield –Jackson International Airport, now the busiest airport in the world, had 30% Black-owned businesses participating in its construction and operations. He made it a mandate if any company wanted to do business with the county.
Where there is the will to do the right thing for all citizens, there is always a way.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County fails to enforce minority contracting rules
