Congrats on I-70 demonstration-courtesy of St. Louis Business Journal.

"Editor’s note: On July 13, demonstrators briefly blocked traffic on Interstate 70 downtown to draw attention to the lack of minority contractors hired for state transportation projects. Eric Vickers helped organize a similar protest 10 years ago to the day.

Congratulations to the African-American Business and Contractors Association and Metro East Black Contractors Organization on the very successful demonstration they so peaceably and smoothly pulled off July 13. They 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 groups 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 - since the Boston Tea Party and extending through the 1963 March on Washington and up until today - always has 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 disadvantaged business enterprise 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 standard amounted to an unjust law, which hence, justified civil disobedience action. Consequently, following the highway shutdown, we negotiated with MoDOT and Federal Highways to raise the goal to increase the opportunities for minority contractors, and we managed to get Missouri’s disadvantaged business enterprise goal raised to the third highest in the nation (behind Maryland and California)." Source: St. Louis Business Journal, Letter to the editor, Friday, July 17, 2009.

Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues."

Eric E. Vickers
Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance
St. Louis Metropolitan.