NAACP Silent as Federal Contracts to Minority-Owned Small Businesses Drop

I'm surprised that the NAACP has been silent on an issue that strikes at the heart of the organization's mission. That is, federal contracting with small businesses owned by minorities has dropped significantly in the last year.
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Over the weekend, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) pledged support for same-sex marriage, which, in all fairness, is a good thing. But what surprises me is that the NAACP has been silent on an issue that strikes at the heart of the organization's mission. That is, according to an article by Bloomberg, federal contracting with small businesses owned by minorities has dropped significantly in the last year. This follows the Obama administration's plans to dismantle the oldest and most successful federal program to direct federal infrastructure spending to minority-owned companies.

When I learned that the Obama administration was dismantling the minority-owned small business-contracting program, I attempted to contact the NAACP. I even issued a national press release asking NAACP President Ben Jealous, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (NHCC) President Javier Palomarez and several other prominent members of minority communities asking for help in stopping the Obama administration's plans. I would think that all minority groups would be vocal opponents to any attempt by the Obama administration to dismantle minority small business contracting programs.

What strikes me as unusual is not so much the fact that the NAACP is supporting same-sex marriage, but rather that they are silent on the Obama administration's lack of support for minority-owned small businesses. Frankly, I'm not aware of anything that President Obama has actually done for minorities, and I'm certainly not aware of anything he has done to counter his own administration's plans to eliminate federal programs that have helped minority-owned firms win billions of dollars in federal contracts.

I remember television coverage of President Obama's election night and seeing minorities all around the country moved to tears. Everybody thought that perhaps things were going to be better for African Americans and all minorities. But it doesn't seem to have turned out that way. And I'm just puzzled that the NAACP and other minority groups aren't up in arms about the elimination of the minority-owned small business contracting program and the dramatic drop in contracting dollars for minorities.

As I routinely say, people need to start watching what President Obama does and quit listening to what he says. When you look at what he does, he appears to be anti-small business, including minority-owned small business. I know some people think that sounds crazy. But the truth is that the most recent data from the federal government prove that the Obama administration is diverting billions of dollars per month in federal small business contracts to some of the largest companies in the world, including Lockheed Martin, Finmeccanica, AT&T, Apple, Bank of America and several others. Those same data show a steep drop in contracts awarded to minority-owned companies for the first time in more than a decade.

The Obama administration can make every excuse in the book for the dip in federal contracts awarded to minority-owned small businesses, but the facts explain everything. The Obama administration dismantled a powerful program for minority-owned small businesses and then contracts awarded to minority-owned small businesses dropped.

If I were a member of the NAACP, I would certainly expect to see them speak out about this.

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