Dear AABCA & MEBCO: Congratulations on the very successful demonstration you so peaceably and smoothly pulled off yesterday. I think you achieved the perfect pitch with the protest - calling attention to a lingering injustice without engaging in a drastic disruption that could derail the negotiating process, which both AABCA and MEBCO are currently involved in with MODOT and IDOT. There are, of course, those who will argue that now is not the time for protest. That argument has - since the Boston Tea Party and extending through the 1963 March on Washington and on up until today - always been the enemy of progress.
There are those who argue that MODOT and IDOT are in favor of separating the goals for minorities and women and that, therefore, there is no need for protest action, just negotiations. That argument ignores history. In 1999, we faced the same issue being faced today i.e. the DBE standard that has caused since its enactment a disparity in the number of contracts going to minorities versus white women. And we were given the same argument then by MODOT that it truthfully makes today, namely, that it's federal law forcing them to live with this discriminatory condition.
We refused to accept the argument. In our eyes, the DBE standard amounted to an unjust law, which hence, justified civil disobedience action. Consequently, following the highway shutdown we negotiated with MODT and Federal Highways to raise the DBE goal to increase the opportunities for minority contractors, and we managed to get Missouri's DBE goal raised to the third highest in the nation (behind Maryland and California).
I remember very vividly a crucial point in those negotiations, which I think may be instructive to you in the negotiations now taking place. We were at a tense meeting in Jefferson City; there were five to six representatives from the federal government who had flown in from D.C., including persons from the Justice Department, and there were the Missouri leaders of the construction industy i.e. the "good old boy" powers. The resistance to having MODOT focus on minorities, rather than DBEs, was tremendous - especially from the feds. I remember so well this critical moment during the negotiations when the tension in the room from their resistance was so great that you could have cut it with a knife. It was then that the late Senator Paula Carter stood up from the table, turned to the federal representatives from Washington, and said in her quiet yet steely voice: "You need to remember that we are the people who shut down a federal highway." The result: they went back to D.C. and approved MODOT raising the goal and focusing on minorities, not just DBEs, getting contracts.
That opened up opportunities that have benefited many minority firms, including some of your members. It also, I would suggest, enlightened MODOT about the ongoing need to take measures to ensure minority inclusion, notwithstanding the DBE law.
The protest action you took yesterday was a message to MODOT and IDOT and the industry that your generation has faith that the current negotiation process can bring about greater inclusion, but that you have more faith in the power of the people to ensure that this occurs. Congratulations again, and thank you for educating the public that progress must continue. Eric
