Moving from Protest to Economic Equality
It is better to protest than to accept injustice.
Rosa Parks
The largely peaceful protests surrounding police brutality, a broken justice system, systemic racism, and disproportionate economic and health disparity have died down. Now the media and journalists, as well as all persuasions of protesters are seeking to determine what will be the actions that represent meaningful change on these issues.
A blast from the past
Circling back to the 1960s and 1970s, here we are again reviewing the aftermath of protests. The stakeholders on both sides are watching, listening, and participating in political combat at the local level, with those supporting protesters hoping to correct the injustices and move their municipality or state in a fair and equitable direction. In the next four months, it will be interesting to see if and how many of the themes of the recent unrest will be parlayed into national political party planks and tangible policies given the current pandemic-related economic strains. What protest-supporting stakeholders have seen thus far are knee-jerk grants, corporate promises, and the hiring of a few more diverse staffers.
The undeniable present
As the already well-documented economic and broken justice system “learnings” are re-examined by a broader audience, maybe they will lead to policy changes. But as businesspersons, let’s keep in mind there are “programs” that have been in place since the 1970s to assist and grow small underrepresented businesses.
Small, diverse businesses are some of the fastest-growing, yet they garner significantly less corporate and institutional spending. This fact seems to illustrate another economic disparity underpinning systemic racism. An undeniable argument is that the programs to support and grow underrepresented small businesses need to be challenged to ensure they are delivering meaningful results to these businesses.
Where do we go from here?
We must make sure that existing procurement diversity programs work. This will be a meaningful basic step to address not only the known economic disparities in goods and services purchased from underrepresented businesses, but also be an impetus to promote health and social well-being within diverse communities.
If these programs have the ability to do all this — one might ask — then why have these programs that seek to bring about more opportunities, economic equity, and prosperity for diverse businesses not been effective? Are they just window-dressing? Are they political cover?
What do these programs need to ensure they are delivering the opportunities and change we are all seeking.
- Procurement diversity programs should be staffed professionally and sufficiently. That staffing should not only be based on spend and reach but also on the needed monitoring to determine program effectiveness.
- Public agencies and private corporations that actually want to make a substantial change should start by securing the commitment from the top. Higher-level leadership adoption makes a difference when policy and goal setting include their involvement.
- All agencies and corporations must make all their “spend” in every department available to underrepresented diverse businesses with goals of no less than 25% across the board.
- Require every buyer, every department, and every executive to be held accountable if underrepresented diversity spend goals are not met consistently on a quarter-by-quarter and annual basis.
- Ancillary programs are fantastic ways to support diverse businesses, and also make a difference. These programs include mentoring and training.
MWBEs can help themselves as well. Here are a few things you can do to keep these procurement diversity programs viable and strong:
- Seek out and pursue the many opportunities that have been designed specifically to help minority and women-owned businesses receive more contracts and grow. Far too many MWBE goals go unmet due to insufficient participation.
- Locate and get involved with groups such as Greenlining Institute and NAACP who prepare and send report cards to those agencies and companies on their spend results – successes and failures. If there are none in your area, advocate for the creation of report cards through purchasing-based associations like Minority Business Round Table, The Women Business Enterprise National Council, or the Latin American Management Association.
- Contact the boards of the public agencies and private corporations and make your concerns known about their procurement diversity activities and performance.
In a capitalist democratic society, it makes more sense to invest in people for them to learn to compete and earn a living than to create pledges of millions of dollars hoping the damage of civil unrest fades and racial tensions are mollified. The time is now. Let’s quit fooling around and make what we know can work actually work.
Don’t give up the fight.
