“Targeting the Entire Black Infrastructure”: Houston Minority Contracting Program Struck Down

A federal judge struck down the race-based portions of Houston’s minority contracting program, and Roland Martin says the decision is part of a broader attack on Black economic opportunity at the federal, state and local levels.

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A federal judge has struck down the race-based portions of Houston’s Minority and Business Enterprise Program, ruling that the city’s use of racial preferences in public contracting violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The case was brought by two white landscaping business owners who sued after being denied certification, and the city has said it will no longer recognize or administer the MBE certification while the ruling stands.

Roland Martin says Houston is one front in a much larger attack on Black economic opportunity. He points to challenges against minority contracting programs at the federal, state, county, city and school district levels and ties those efforts to what he describes as a broader right-wing campaign against Black infrastructure.

The money at stake is enormous. Roland says Black-owned businesses received about $10 billion in federal contracts during the final year of the Biden-Harris administration, roughly 2% of federal contracting and a record level. He says that share has since fallen to 1.2%, representing nearly a $5 billion loss on the federal level alone.

Those losses hit far beyond the businesses that lose contracts. Roland warns that Black-owned companies will be forced to cut staff, families will lose income, Black law and accounting firms will lose clients, and churches, HBCUs and charitable organizations will feel the downstream impact as billions of dollars are pulled out of Black communities.

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