This article originally appeared in BlackPressUSA.com.

I have questioned the word "minority" and caused a few high-brow eyebrows to be raised at my exposure of the games they have been playing on Black businesses. Now they are conducting a stealth move away from one demeaning term to one that is more palatable. More and more they use the term "small" when it comes to slicing up the public contracting pie. I have no problem with that word, as opposed to the word, "minority," with which I have a tremendous problem. However, I do want those who use it to define it. And I do want those who are classified as "small" to know what it really means in their particular business circles.

We have seen all sorts of terms used to describe Black businesses, i.e., minority, small, disadvantaged, underutilized, but there has been no confusion about the term used for white females; they call their businesses "women-owned." Unfortunately, we have seldom looked into the real meaning of those terms nor have we been advantaged by them. The latest okey-doke is the term "small." Black business owners will do yourselves a favor by learning just what is considered "small" as you compete in your local Small Business Program.

Where I live, a Small Business Enterprise Program was established as a solution to blatant discrimination found in our Croson Study. The discrimination was race-based, but the solution was race-neutral. Go figure. When the definition of "small" was written into the law, it stated, in so much bureaucratic gobbledygook, that the guidelines used to determine "small" would be taken from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) definition.

The city made one significant change in addition to those guidelines, however. It raised the level of net worth that one owner of a small business could have from $325,000 to $750,000, thus, enlarging the so-called playing field to include even larger "small business" owners. This criterion is in addition to the SBA’s definition, which allows a small business to earn millions in annual revenue and employ hundreds of people.

With most Black business owners, especially those in construction trades, having far less in annual revenue, oftentimes no employees, and a much lower net worth, the chances of them competing and winning contracts just got slimmer. To make matters even worse, our Small Business Enterprise Program, which calls for 30% of the business to go to "small" (there’s that word again) businesses, includes everyone. That’s right. Even white males can participate in the Small Business Program now. Let’s get this straight. White males get the 70% and then they can get in on the 30% as well. They can even start front companies for their wives and daughters and get even more of the 30% that way as well. What a deal! And guess what. We have black (small "b") city council persons who approved this silly program.

Charlotte, North Carolina, is struggling with the same kind of ridiculous system, according to an article I read in the Charlotte Post, "Minority firms lag on public projects – County contract goals missed, just like city’s." The article discusses the race and gender neutral program adopted by Charlotte and the inequities in that program. For instance, of $55.9 million in construction contracts awarded on a new uptown arena, 15% went to "small" businesses (which includes white males); but "minority-owned companies (which includes Hispanics, Asians, and every other ethnic group) received just 3% while women-owned companies (White women) got 8%."

Here’s the kicker. Eddie Mobley, V.P. of the Metrolina Minority Contractors Association, said, "They’re not even trying. They’re always saying we are going to help women and Blacks. They shouldn’t even say women. It’s the Black businesses that are getting zero." He’s right, but the first problem is the definition of "minority." If it’s Black we are talking about, why not say that? Stop playing this "minority" charade and follow the lead of a group in Cleveland, Ohio. Their name is the "Black Trades Council of Ohio, Inc." Is there any doubt or confusion about who they are and for whom they are fighting?

Missouri and Maryland are fighting similar issues as well. But another good example can be found in Harlem. According to an article in the San Francisco Bay View, "Harlem fights back for construction jobs and contracts," Jim Haughton, founder of Harlem Fightback, says, "Nepotism and cronyism are worse than I have seen it in 40 years."

Jim Heyliger, president of the Association of Minority Enterprises of New York, said of the $500 million spent on the clean up of the World Trade Center site, "not one dime was given to a Black or Hispanic contractor."

Haughton also says that of $9 billion per year in contracts, less than 1% goes to minority contractors, in a city "that has a 62% minority population." Herein lies another problem. How can 62% be a minority of anything? That must be some of that "fuzzy math" George Bush was talking about during his debates with Al Gore.

It’s all in the definitions, folks. Until Black people decide who we are and stop being apologetic and ashamed of it, and stop being afraid to stand up for Black rights instead of "small" rights and "minority" rights and "women’s" rights, we will always get the smallest portion of the proverbial economic pie. Stop playing in the minority and small business games. You cannot win. Can’t you see that from looking at the past?

James Clingman is the founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce and served as its first Executive Director and President. Jim also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column, Blackonomics, circulated via the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Watch for his column in your local newspaper. He is an Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Cincinnati, Dept. of African American Studies on "Black Entrepreneurship". He is the author of numerous books including the new book, Black O Knowledge.

July 1 2004
Issue 97

is published every Thursday.