tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46932911922676645702024-03-19T06:09:11.600-07:00St. Louis Minority Inclusion Movement Heats Up.Missouri Department of Transportation statistics show that there are 62 percent minority contractors and 38 percent women contractors certified with the department (DBEs). Yet, minority firms get only 12 percent of the work and white women-owned businesses get a whopping 88 percent. Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in metro east isn't much different.Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-85216047756711961602010-08-29T16:34:00.000-07:002010-08-31T04:30:46.001-07:00Leaving a Lasting Legacy: Attorney Eric Vickers-An RCE exclusive by Byron Lee.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGPboi9eZJHJaDesakgL6hCwqnoE6uAkYkC_Q8UFl0LDiT47JsKcXR1e4-HFiLi9MSXnX_9rrloYjL_A5OkWBJ5BWZ-MTQVJ-oeP8_f_fXErOnL_gi_vPhrrkFgQO7dc9g4CN5xUyDFjz/s1600/Atty+Eric+Vickers.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510989370427996946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGPboi9eZJHJaDesakgL6hCwqnoE6uAkYkC_Q8UFl0LDiT47JsKcXR1e4-HFiLi9MSXnX_9rrloYjL_A5OkWBJ5BWZ-MTQVJ-oeP8_f_fXErOnL_gi_vPhrrkFgQO7dc9g4CN5xUyDFjz/s320/Atty+Eric+Vickers.jpg" /></a><br /><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em></em></div><div><em>"When you're right, remarkable things happen." </em><br /><br />Eric Vickers makes this statement between lengthy gaps of silence, pauses pregnant with emotional reflection on a life of service. For this edition of the RCE, we will examine this service in depth.<br /><br />Vickers could be making this particular statement about many aspects of his career, but at this particular moment, as he's seated at the Bread Company in the Delmar Loop, he is referring to July 12, 1999, the day of the Interstate 70 shut down for minority inclusion in the highway's extension. "As the momentum gathered, it got to the point where you couldn't be down with the community and not be with the shutdown," he recalls of the final days leading up to the event. "That day, you could see the sense of victory. The different groups looked at each other and said 'Wow, we're really doing it. We said we were going to shut the highway down, and we're shutting the highway down.'" Vickers says that one of the long-term benefits of the shutdown was a training program for blacks looking for a career, or a career change. He says that he threatened a similar action to block the recently completed I-64 extension, if the Illinois Department of Transportation didn't increase minority participation and that this tactic resulted in the creation of a training program in Illinois. "Now, we're training brothers and sisters on both sides of the river. I love that." "[The I-70 shutdown] was also a moment of transition for me personally," he continues. "As Percy Green warned me, I had gone from being a lawyer to being in front. It wasn't that long after that my license got suspended. You can't really show a connection between the two, but, as Nikki Giovanni said, "When you do things on the cutting edge, you're gonna get cut." I didn't fight the suspension, even though I could have. I got a law license because of what an activist with a law degree could do. After I lost my license, I focused squarely on my activism. (Contrary to the perception of many, Vickers feels that his biggest accomplishment was the creation of City of St. Louis' Ordinance 68412 - made law is 1989 - which calls for 25% of labor hours to be performed by minorities and 5% by women. "I wanted something legal on the books," he says. {Vickers is currently using this law to highlight the apparent shortcomings in the Art Museum development.}<br /><br />The drive to fight for equal treatment was cultivated during his upbringing. Vickers says that the biggest moment of his childhood was moving from East St. Louis to U. City. ’ÄúIt was like going into a whole new world. This was during the 60's. There was black power and black pride and during all of that we [Vickers has two brothers and a much younger sister] were dropped into this white enclave. It made you think about the inequities. It radicalized us.’Äù This ideological awakening soon found voice in a protest for more black representation at his new school, University City High. ’ÄúWe got up that morning, lined up in front of the school and didn't let anyone in," he remembers. "It shocked the entire University City community. From what I recall, Spring Break was soon after, and we met with the officials, stated our demands, and they met every one. We had some black teachers come in. We got some black books in the library. It makes you want to do more protests. You say to yourself 'Wow, this works.'"<br /><br />Vickers furthered his education at Washington University and participated in the Coro Foundation fellowship program at Occidental College, through which he worked for General Dynamics. He was eventually hired in the personnel department at Monsanto. It didn't take long for the activism bug to bite. "They weren't promoting enough blacks into management, and they were firing blacks. I got the other black professionals together and we wrote a letter to complain." The newly formed group, calling themselves the Monsanto 15, didn't stop there. They took it among themselves to hire blacks, being undaunted when the bulk of the hiring responsibilities left Vickers’Äô hands. "We came in on Saturdays and I hired every brother and sister that came into that place. The unions hated us, because we were filling jobs that would have gone to their friends and family." Vickers feels that the struggle was worth it. "Thirty years later, I see some of them. They made it through, retired with full pensions."<br /><br />Inspired by the sense of pride felt in successfully arguing on a fired employee's behalf at a hearing, Vickers decided to study law. He joined the Bryan Cave firm in 1981 and formed his own firm, Vickers, Moore and Wiest, in 1984. He started taking on outside jobs that allowed him to pursue his quest for social justice. He started representing MO-KAN, an advocate for minority-contractors, and fought for clients around the country.<br /><br />Further notoriety would come when Vickers successful sued St. Clair County figure - head Francis Touchette, getting a woman who had refused to pay unofficially mandated fees to Touchette reinstated at her job. This victory would draw the attention of child hood friend Carl Officer, who was entering his third term as Mayor of East St. Louis. Vickers would become Officer's legal counsel. "What I love about Carl is that he had the idea of East St. Louis being independent. That's my boy," he says.<br /><br />The feeling of admiration is mutual. Reached by phone, Officer recalls a time when he and Vickers were truly in dire straits. "A lawsuit had been filed against the city, with regard to the sewer project. We were doing the best we could with the time and resources we had, but, due to political pressure, the judge was encouraged to teach us a lesson. I noticed an inordinate number of police cars along the route, Illinois 15. I also noticed an inordinate amount of sheriff's deputies inside the court room. Bottom line is we were put in contempt of court. They would not accept a regular bond. They set a bond of $7,500 in cash, which I found peculiar because there were people in jail for murder who didn't need the bond money that we needed, but that was typical of the circuit court judges of that day. Luckily, our families were able to come up with the money and we were only there for a few hours. Also, a former representative/current sheriff moved us out of general lockup."<br /><br />Carl continued, "He and I have had a few run-ins in the courts in Belleville and in federal courts as far away as New York City. I don't think that I have adequate words to describe my friendship with him. I admire him as a very principled gentleman. I think that he got a lot of that from his mother and his father. His father is a one of a kind individual that you'd want to model any son after and the kind of man you'd want your dad to be. I think that Eric didn't fall far from that tree. As an attorney, I have never met anyone as studious and relentless in pursuing his craft and his trade. He's been the kind of crusader to fight on behalf of those persons who did not have a legal voice, or did not have funds for a legal voice, or if it's someone looking at hundreds of years in an appellate situation, or if it was someone who did not have a job who was looking to get into a training program. He has never discriminated in his abilities as a lawyer to speak to the fact that he was a black man first. I have not had a better friend than Eric Vickers, and I'm certainly positive that I've not had a better lawyer."<br /><br />In addition to supporting political figures, Vickers has fought to unseat them. In 1994, he vied for the seat of Congressman William Clay. "I thought that the Clay machine had become corrupt. What was remarkable to me about the campaign was the fear that people in the city had of him. Coming from the Eastside, I didn't have that fear of him. I had once respected him. He was a civil rights fighter and the white establishment was out to get him. But, at that point, he had been in there for 28 years and hadn't done anything for the last ten." Although his bid was unsuccessful, Vickers looks back at the experience fondly. "It was a fun a campaign. One day, he announced the opening of his headquarters at Delmar and Euclid. I bought myself an African cane, went to the opening, got in his face and challenged him to a debate, like Ali. He wouldn't do it, and one of his bodyguards lurched at me. It was caught on tape and all that weekend it was played on TV."<br /><br />Most recently, with his law license regained in 2008, Vickers has taken his fight back to the courtroom. A golden opportunity arose when developer Paul McKee's plan to renovate the North side of St. Louis city was announced. "It had clear gentrification overtones," he says. Even though he respected the efforts of those who were planning protests, he felt that other action needed to be taken. He joined forces with fellow lawyers W. Bevis Schock, D.B. Amon and Hugh Eastwood to take action. Early last month, the circuit court ruled in favor of his clients, saying that the tax increment financing (TIF) package approved for the project was unlawful. "The record is bereft of evidence that anyone, anywhere has accomplished the feat of attracting new residents to core urban areas on a scale envisaged by defendants," read the opinion of Judge Robert Dierker, as quoted in The St. Louis Business Journal. "We got together and we kicked ass," says Vickers, with a gleam in his eye that matches his smile.<br /><br />Vickers feels that victories such as this most recent one are fueled by his Muslim faith, a belief he entered while in law school. "It's the essence of me. I do the daily prayers, five or more. I've made the pilgrimage to Mecca. This Ramadan will be my 30th. I view the spiritual self like the physical self. You have to exercise it as much as possible in order to get the most out of it. That's what Islam requires me to do. The prayers, the restrictions, the fasting, it’Äôs all to get closer to God."<br /><br />With regard to the future, Vickers is turning his attention to the juvenile court system, saying "I don't think that the system properly handles black youth. I think they are too quick to treat them like adults." In the broader scope, he says "I'm just getting started."<br /><br />A tireless fighter is forging on.<br /><br /><a href="http://rivercityexaminer.com/atty.html"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Courtesy of Byron Lee, RCE<br /></span></a><br /><strong>Attorney Eric Vickers<br />Defender of the weak and downtrodden</strong><br />(I'll not hesitate to combine the power of lawsuit, protest,and blogging to go after oppressors).</div><div><strong></strong></div><div></div><div><strong></div></strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-34706999685046724622010-08-28T14:30:00.000-07:002010-08-31T04:55:27.160-07:00Eugene Fowler and Eric VickersWatch the following YouTube video where Attorney Vickers rips Mr. McKee's Northside project.<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-tYFO0svZ4"><span style="color:#3333ff;">"Mr. McKee, you said your corporate philosophy is to 'embrace the tension'?" I hope you are sincere in saying that, because it is just about to get tense."<br /></span></a><br /><strong>Attorney Eric Vickers<br />Defender of the weak and downtrodden<br /></strong>(I'll not hesitate to combine the power of lawsuit, protest,and blogging to go after oppressors).Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-50724522680181541222010-08-28T13:06:00.000-07:002010-08-31T04:32:36.283-07:00An Ultimatum is given to MoDOT.Please click the link below to watch a YouTuve video of Attorney Vickers giving MODOT an ultimatum for minority inclusion.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za7xvJq5Y1c&feature=related"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Attorney Vickers' Ultimatum to MoDOT</span></a><br /><br /><strong>Attorney Eric Vickers</strong><br /><strong>Defender of the weak and downtrodden</strong><br />(I'll not hesitate to combine the power of lawsuit, protest,and blogging to go after oppressors).Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-36206010707384961852010-07-22T16:59:00.000-07:002010-08-31T05:08:17.532-07:00Attorney Eric Vickers Continues the Quest for Answers About Inclusion On St. Louis Art Museum ExpansionClick the link below to read the e-mail Attorney Vickers sent to Mr. Jerome Sincoff, Honorary Trustee Chair, Expansion Oversight Committee, St. Louis Art Museum.<br /><br /><a href="http://rivercityexaminer.com/museum2.html"><span style="color:#3333ff;">Attorney Eric Vickers Continues the Quest for Answers About Inclusion On St. Louis Art Museum Expansion</span> </a><br /><br />Courtesy of <a href="http://rivercityexaminer.com/"><span style="color:#3333ff;">River City Examiner</span></a><br /><br /><p><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span></p><p><span style="color:#3333ff;"></p></span><br />Attorney Eric Vickers<br />Defender of the weak and downtrodden<br />(I'll not hesitate to combine the power of lawsuit, protest,and blogging to go after oppressors).Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-10604258494778686802009-07-23T12:23:00.000-07:002009-07-23T12:31:02.824-07:00Congrats 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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)." <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/07/20/editorial5.html"><span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Source: St. Louis Business Journal, Letter to the editor, Friday, July 17, 2009.</strong><br /><strong></strong></span></a><br /><strong>Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers</strong><br /><strong>Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance</strong><br /><strong>St. Louis Metropolitan.<br /><br /></strong><strong></strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-1064948324008569272009-07-15T13:28:00.000-07:002009-07-20T01:42:18.593-07:00Demonstrators briefly shut down traffic on Interstate 70 during rush hour-courtesy of Associated Press/KPLR TV 11, St. Louis.ST. LOUIS (AP) — "Protesters representing black contractors stopped several large trucks on a section of Interstate 70 near the Gateway Arch.The protest by the African-American Business and Contractors Association blocked traffic in both directions for about a minute during rush-hour traffic Monday afternoon." By <a href="http://www.kplr11.com/news/sns-ap-mo--interstate-protest,0,417603.story?track=rss"><span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Associated Press & KPLR TV 11, St. Louis</strong></span></a>, 9:13 AM CDT, July 14, 2009.<br /><br /><strong>“I have learned to use public protest for the benefit of the weak and downtrodden.” Eric Vickers.<br /><br />Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers</strong><br /><strong>Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance</strong><br /><strong>St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-73276151589911440422009-07-14T00:06:00.000-07:002009-07-13T22:25:48.750-07:00Protesters block I-70-courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch.St. Louis — Demonstrators briefly blocked Interstate 70 downtown Monday afternoon in an effort to draw attention to the number of minority-owned businesses hired for public projects in the area.<br /><br />Trucks and cars driven by demonstrators blocked I-70 at the depressed section near the Arch grounds for about a minute at about 4:40 p.m. as drivers honked and police watched. Sixteen protesters held signs on the Chestnut Street overpass over I-70.<br /><br />The cars soon moved on and traffic flowed again. Drivers of two white-and-blue pickups halted westbound traffic again shortly after 5 p.m. before driving off — this time with St. Louis motorcycle police giving chase. The drivers said later that they received tickets for impeding the flow of traffic.<br /><br />Monday's demonstration was 10 years and one day after a similar protest brought motorists to a halt on I-70 at Goodfellow Boulevard. In that protest, 125 were arrested. It vaulted tension over the lack of highway contracts for minority businesses onto a national stage.<br /><br />"It's a moment of observance to highlight the discrimination that still continues," said Eric Vickers, an organizer of the 1999 protest who watched the demonstration Monday from the Chestnut Street overpass.<br /><br />Currently, state goals for disadvantaged business enterprises combine women and minority contractors. But firms owned by white women are getting most of the disadvantaged-business work — 88 percent in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. That leaves minority contractors with 12 percent. In Illinois, about 70 percent of contracts to disadvantaged businesses have gone to women contractors, and 30 percent to minorities.<br /><br />Discussions are under way about minority participation in the $640 million Mississippi River bridge between downtown and the Metro East. Construction is scheduled to begin in January.<br /><br />Missouri and Illinois transportation officials have been meeting with minority contractors since February, and both sides characterize the talks as going well. The state departments plan to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation for a waiver so they can set separate goals for women- and minority-owned businesses in the bridge work.<br /><br />The request isn't to reduce participation by women-owned businesses, only to bring minority contractors to a higher level, Marisa Kollias, spokeswoman for the Illinois Transportation of Department, said last week.<br /><br />"There's no reason why it could not be a 50/50 goal," said Pat Clark, one of the demonstrators.<br /><br />If minority contractors don't get more work, organizers of the demonstration said, they'll take their campaign up a notch.<br /><br />"It is in MoDOT's and IDOT's lap," said Makal Ali, president of the African-American Business and Contractors Association.<br /><br />A few of the motorists caught in Monday's protest honked or tried to maneuver around the clot of traffic.<br /><br />"I support it," one woman told a reporter through the sunroof of her car. "But I've got somewhere to be<strong>." Courtesy of By Ken Leiser and Elisa Crouch, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 07/14/2009.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><a href="http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=180049"><span style="color:#000099;">Read also "minority group holds peaceful protest on I-70"-KSDK TV 5, St. Louis</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> </span><br /><br /><strong>Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." <br /><br />Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-88499543262916437102009-07-13T21:27:00.000-07:002009-07-13T22:25:23.190-07:00Minority contractors plan protest on 1-70, say not enough progress has been made-courtesy of Associated Press.ST. LOUIS (AP) — Organizers say a protest action on Interstate 70 in downtown St. Louis will not snarl traffic as the city celebrates All-Star game festivities.<br /><br />Some minority contractors plan a protest Monday, saying not enough progress has been made since the last one 10 years ago.<br /><br />A spokeswoman for the African-American Business and Contractors Association says the group plans a protest during rush hour Monday but no shutdown.<br /><br />Ten years ago, more than 100 people, including the Reverend Al Sharpton and Urban League President James Buford, were arrested on I-70.<br /><br />That protest led to the creation of a construction trades school in the city and increased participation for minority firms in construction.<br /><br />The AABCA says there is still an unacceptable lack of minority participation in construction projects. Courtesy of <a href="http://www.kplr11.com/news/sns-ap-mo--interstate-protest,0,417603.story?track=rss"><span style="color:#000099;">Associated Press</span></a>, 1:41 PM CDT, July 13, 2009.<br /><br /><strong>Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." <br /><br />Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-9932898621781611932009-07-13T13:26:00.000-07:002009-07-17T12:57:19.103-07:00Minority Economic Inclusion - Modern History - City of St. Louis -1986-2009 - The Power of Law and Activism - Foundation for the Future.Click the following link to read:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rivercityexaminer.com/history.html"><span style="color:#000099;">The summary and outline of bound historical report by Eric Vickers</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues."<br /><br />Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-28215803541917010992009-07-13T08:15:00.000-07:002009-07-13T22:24:55.534-07:00Rush Hour Could Be Dicey As Minority Group Plans Highway Protest-courtesy of Fox 2 News.ST. LOUIS, MO - Minority contractors say their protest on Interstate 70 in downtown St. Louis will not snarl traffic as the city celebrates All-Star game festivities. The African-American Business and Contractors Association says there is still an unacceptable lack of minority participation in construction projects.<br /><br />Organizers say a protest action on Interstate 70 in downtown St. Louis will not snarl traffic as the city celebrates All-Star game festivities. Some minority contractors plan a protest Monday, saying not enough progress has been made since the last one 10 years ago.<br /><br />A spokeswoman for the African-American Business and Contractors Association says the group plans a protest during rush hour Monday but no shutdown.<br /><br />Ten years ago, more than 100 people, including the Reverend Al Sharpton and Urban League President James Buford, were arrested on I-70.<br /><br />That protest led to the creation of a construction trades school in the city and increased participation for minority firms in construction.<br /><br />The AABCA says there is still an unacceptable lack of minority participation in construction projects. <a href="http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-mokan-highway-protest-interstate-071309,0,2618262.story"><span style="color:#000099;">Click here to watch the protest video clip1</span></a> and <a href="http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-i-70-protest-minority-contractors-071309,0,2116947.story"><span style="color:#000099;">click here to watch the protest video 2</span></a>. Courtesy of KTVI-TV/Fox 2 News, St. Louis.<br /><br />Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." <br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-76573228257181088682009-07-12T21:18:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:26:01.129-07:00"Black Contractors to Stage Highway Shutdown Commemorative Demonstration in downtown St. Louis at evening rush hour on eve of Obama Visit."Black Contractors will stage Highway 70 shutdown commemorative demonstration in downtown St. Louis at evening rush hour on eve of Obama Visit i.e. July 13, 2009.<br /><br />The data recently released by Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) and revealed by the media decisively substantiates the inequality in federal-funded contracting, with MODOT's contracting history stunningly showing that while minorities have over the past several years constituted over 60% of the firms classified as disadvantaged, they have only received 12% of the contracts, with white women owned firms receiving 88%.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBJ0lXKZ78Y0n0qHU6pmW9k_x4IbJ39Rvrtw46uuQ7QaLTRag0FGhoUpcYU4dioV5PY1y9gWt9BzZTGodIS6kXowYc3ORftaEkgvfGmzHuclA5pyo1V9TkCma1N3xdT3cs0FY9QNMdVFU/s1600-h/I-70_in_downtown_St__Louis.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBJ0lXKZ78Y0n0qHU6pmW9k_x4IbJ39Rvrtw46uuQ7QaLTRag0FGhoUpcYU4dioV5PY1y9gWt9BzZTGodIS6kXowYc3ORftaEkgvfGmzHuclA5pyo1V9TkCma1N3xdT3cs0FY9QNMdVFU/s320/I-70_in_downtown_St__Louis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357801523168244722" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Interstate 70 in downtown St. Louis.<br /><br /><em>"We must be undaunted in pursuing our cause. It is a cause greater than any one contractor and greater even than minority contractors collectively. Our cause is economic justice, and every time we succeed in getting a contract for one of us we open up opportunities for all of us. And that is how a people progress." </em>Eric Vickers-a memo to the minority contractors on February 22, 1988. <br /><br />Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." <br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-89830392362925261792009-07-12T00:30:00.000-07:002009-07-12T21:20:59.223-07:00I-70 Demonstration-St. Louis Post-Dispatch article."<em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>I-70 shutdown will echo 1999 event that aided minority, women-owned firms</strong></span>"</em><br /><br />St. Louis — The news conference was meant to decry the lack of minority contractors on a bridge project, but it fell into disarray when one participant decided to climb onto a piece of construction equipment.<br /><br />Others soon followed. And before that late June morning in 1999 was over, 31 people landed in a police lockup.<br /><br />"After we got out that night, we decided we needed to do something bigger the next time," attorney and activist Eric Vickers recalled.<br /><br />The day after the arrests, Vickers composed a letter to then-Gov. Mel Carnahan, threatening to block Interstate 70 in St. Louis if the state didn't do something to increase minority participation on highway projects.<br /><br />And 10 years ago today, a coalition of contractors, politicians and civil rights champions made good on that threat, bringing Monday morning rush-hour traffic along the interstate to a halt. It was an act of civil disobedience that continues to reverberate within the local construction industry.<br /><br />"Nobody wanted to shut down that highway, but it opened a lot of doors," said Thomas L. Nellums Sr., the owner of TEE & E Trucking in St. Louis.<br /><br />Indeed, activists and state officials acknowledge that the I-70 protest in 1999 sparked numerous changes for the better. A construction training program initiated in the aftermath of the protest has produced more than 1,000 graduates. Including minority contractors has become common practice, not only for highway work but on other major capital projects involving various institutions — the St. Louis Art Museum, University of Missouri-St. Louis and BJC HealthCare among them.<br /><br />"We are doing things now to build relationships with the communities that are necessary to head off (those) types of issues," said Lester Woods, the external civil rights director for the Missouri Department of Transportation.<br /><br />But some believe more needs to be done, and they say a protest similar to the one 10 years ago may be the best way to make their point.<br /><br /><strong>CIRCUMVENTING RULES? </strong><br /><br />An organization called the African-American Business and Contractors Association contends that some injustices have yet to be addressed, noting how contracts have been allocated for the construction of the new, $640 million bridge connecting Illinois and Missouri.<br /><br />Federal and state guidelines for minority participation give African-Americans and women equal footing, but state data show that the vast majority (88 percent) of the contracts set aside for those groups have gone to women-owned businesses, not African-Americans.<br /><br />African-American contractors contend that white owners often circumvent the intent of those rules by transferring ownership to their daughters or wives.<br /><br />"How can you win when the system is set up to help companies, who have been in business for 30 years, get family members certified (for minority ownership)?" said Carmell "Mack" Macklin, owner of Macklin Hauling.<br /><br />Frank Haase, a white contractor who is president of R.G. Ross Construction Company, is a member of MO-KAN, the St. Louis Construction Assistance Center. MO-KAN is a consortium representing minority contractors that played an integral role in the interstate shutdown 10 years ago.<br /><br />Haase acknowledges that some businesses occasionally flout the rules for women-owned contractors, but he said the practice was not widespread.<br /><br />Nonetheless, black contractors are asking Illinois and Missouri to separate minority-owned firms from female-owned businesses in awarding contracts for the Mississippi Bridge project.<br /><br />To draw attention to their concerns, the black contractors plan to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the shutdown with another protest Monday morning at an undisclosed location along I-70. Organizers say they will not take any action that should result in arrests.<br /><br />"We have issues with (the Missouri Department of Transportation). They're making progress, but they will have to improve," said Makal Ali, a protest organizer.<br /><br />Some contractors, however, say a protest isn't necessary this time. MO-KAN will skip the I-70 demonstration.<br /><br />"We are sitting at the table (with Illinois and Missouri transportation officials), and we haven't exhausted the means of getting to the place where we think we need to be," said Yaphett El-Amin, the group's executive director.<br /><br /><strong>'NOT ENOUGH' CHANGE</strong><br /><br />After the arrest of 31 demonstrators in 1999, minority contractors and advocates held discussions with state officials. The talks extended into simmering resentment among minorities over a highway bridge project at Taylor Avenue.<br /><br />"All this construction was taking place in the heart of the black community, and no blacks were working on the project," said Anthony Thompson, the president and chief executive officer of Kwame Construction. "Getting attention of the community and the nation was the only way we could change the situation."<br /><br />The meetings got the attention of the community. Persuading the Rev. Al Sharpton to join the shutdown guaranteed a national audience. Still, negotiations eventually faltered.<br /><br />"They knew we were going to shut down the highway," Vickers recalled. "They just didn't know how."<br /><br />The plan called for vehicles driven by protestors to draw abreast of each other along I-70, gradually slowing eastbound traffic to a stop at Goodfellow Boulevard where other demonstrators, on foot, awaited.<br /><br />It unfolded just as the organizers had hoped. An hour after the word to "move forward" sounded from a bullhorn, traffic began to flow again. There were no injuries.<br /><br />All told, an estimated 300 people took to the highway that morning. Of those, 125 — including Sharpton — were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.<br /><br />A decade later, Vickers recalls the protest with pride. The community and the state did respond to the issues that were raised. More doors began to open for minorities.<br /><br />But as Monday's protest approaches, Vickers says he's still not sure how he feels about it. Should he stand with the demonstrators? Or, should he stand aside, acknowledging that progress has been made and there are other ways to address inequities?<br /><br />"It's changed," he said. "But just not enough."<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-89113356601456723282009-07-11T17:19:00.000-07:002009-07-12T09:00:49.246-07:00Support Monday, July 13, 2009 I-70 evening rush hour demonstration in St. Louis.<strong>Dear Community Leaders:</strong><br /><br />I ask you to join me this Monday, July 13, 2009, in supporting the African-American Business and Contractors Association (AABCA) and the Metro East Black Contractors Organization (MEBCO) in their planned shutdown commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 1999 I-70 Shutdown. Though somewhat obscured by the media, AABCA and MEBCO have eloquently stated that the purpose of the protest action on Monday-where, unlike in 1999, no arrests are planned-is to have a "moment of observance to highlight the fact that, 10 years after the 1999 shutdown protest of 70, minority contractors and workers are still being denied economic justice."<br /><br />The data recently released by MODOT and revealed by the media decisively substantiates their point, with MODOT's contracting history stunningly showing that while minorities have over the past several years constituted over 60% of the firms classified as disadvantaged, they have only received 12% of the contracts, with white women owned firms receiving 88%.<br /><br />But more important to me than this data, is the spirit of progress I see in those leading AABCA and MEBCO in this reminder that we all must be ever mindful that there are doors to diversity that still remain closed. I am proud to see the passion that this new generation of minority advocates and entrepreneurs is expressing for this cause - a level playing field - and I am pleased to see that they have decided to engage in this mission through a message and measured method that is their own reflection, rather than a re-play of ten years ago when drastic measures were essential for change.<br /><br />I have told them that this is their moment and that I will not participate in the actual physical shutdown, but that I will be honored to be at the press conference they have scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at the Cochran Center, immediately following their commemorative protest.<br /><br />They asked if I could convey the message to all the community leaders I know -particularly those they named that they have viewed with admiration from a distance - that they would like for us all to come to their Monday evening press conference in order to show again, ten years later and twenty years after Percy climbed the Arch, that we are still united in belief and cause, and now again more youthfully determined, to have real economic diversity in this town.<br /><br />I hope to see you on Monday evening at the Cochran Center to welcome and thank and congratulate them for reminding us all, that were it not for the exercise of the First Amendment right of peaceable protest, we would not on Tuesday, the next day, be having the nation's first African-American president throwing out the first pitch at America's quintessential pastime event - in the shadow of the courthouse haunted by Dred Scott. I thank you for giving this your most sincere and earnest consideration.<br /><br />And I thank again and eternally the many of you who were there ten years ago-nobly sitting down on the highway, humbly and proudly being arrested-when we planted both real progress and the seeds wonderfully sprouting today.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Ad lutua continua - "the struggle continues." </strong></span><br /><p><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000099;"><strong><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/"><span style="color:#000099;">Please click this link to contact the White House. Share your feelings about the inadequate minorities inclusion in the federal-funded projects by Missouri Department of Transportation and Illinois Department of Transportation</span>.</a></strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> Please take a few minutes of your precious time to fill the form and click submit to send your message online to the White House. You can also call or write to the President.<br /><br /></strong></span><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong></p>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-56951574625939091312009-07-11T16:05:00.000-07:002009-07-11T19:10:55.043-07:00Black Enterprise Reprints St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on planned I-70 protestsPlease click the link below to read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on I-70 shutdown in Black Enterprise magazine:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/news-article/132806608"><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Group Plans I-70 Protest Over Minority Hiring on Projects<br />by St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 2009-07-10 by Elisa Crouch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch<br />(reprinted by Black Enterprise magazine) </span></strong></a><br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-13757065749511349632009-07-11T14:45:00.000-07:002009-07-11T19:22:01.837-07:00<a href="http://www.riverfronttimes.com/bestof/2000/award/best-protest-30650/"><span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Best Protest<br />I-70 Blockade<br />Readers' Choice</strong></span></a><br />(courtesy of RIVERFRONT TIMES)<br /><br />I-70 BlockadeAny protest that gets local Republican, moderate, well-reasoned activist Jim Buford to join ranks with nationwide, left-of-center and anything-but-moderate activist Al Sharpton has something strange and powerful going for it. And then the protest on July 13, 1999, actually blocked Interstate 70 in both directions as promised -- well, that's one hell of a protest. The cause was just, participation was significant and there was an actual beneficial result. The flashpoint was the lack of minority contractors and construction workers on the repair of I-70 through North St. Louis. Led by local attorney Eric Vickers, the blockade of early-morning Monday rush-hour traffic was intended to force Gov. Mel Carnahan's hand, making the state increase minority participation in such public works. The goal was more training of minority youth for construction-trade jobs and more contracts to minority contractors. So far, the state seems to be headed in that direction, with the opening of the Construction Readiness Training Center in Wellston. That center is temporary, with a permanent one planned for North St. Louis. The only vaguely negative fallout from the I-70 protest was that it heightened expectations and ambitions for ensuing demonstrations, expectations and ambitions that were not met. More jobs in projects funded by tax dollars is one issue, but when two men were killed by police on a Jack in the Box parking lot in Berkeley when only one of them was a drug suspect, the idea of blocking the highway didn't draw as much interest. A threatened blockage of Interstate 64 (a.k.a. Highway 40) was canceled in part because nowhere near the 300 who blocked I-70 would have shown up for the Highway 40 protest. Draw what conclusions you want from that, but it doesn't diminish the effectiveness of the I-70 shutdown. At least the young African-Americans who will be taught the construction trades will come out ahead on the deal, thanks to Vickers, Buford, Sharpton and everyone else who sat down on the interstate to force those politicians to give in and do the right thing.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-5598676602904613302009-07-10T21:10:00.000-07:002009-07-11T01:25:42.943-07:00Activist-attorney reflects on anniversary of I-70 shutdownIn 1980, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Fullilove v. Klutznick, gave its stamp of approval to perhaps the most important piece of legislation affecting minorities in America in the last 30 years.<br /><br />In upholding the constitutionality of the controversial provision of the 1977 Federal Public Works Act that set aside 10 percent of public dollars for minority businesses, the court spawned a national wave of minority economic inclusion, which swept through the federal procurement process and state and local governments.<br /><br />U.S. Rep. Parren Mitchell of Baltimore, who sponsored the set-aside provision and later came to be known as the “father of minority business,” called this the final phase of the Civil Rights Movement: the economic struggle.<br /><br />By the mid-80s, African Americans had begun asserting and seizing political power by capturing mayoral offices in major cities like Atlanta, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, Richmond and Washington, D.C. Governmental power was then leveraged to create economic opportunities through enacting laws and policies mandating that specific percentages of public contracts – generally, between 20 percent and 35 percent – be awarded to minority businesses.<br /><br />In St. Louis, the aldermanic black caucus adopted a resolution in 1981 to require 25/5 percent inclusion of MBE/MWBE (Minority Business Enterprises and Women Business Enterprises, respectively) on any project with government subsidy. Though they could not get the requirement passed into City law, they did succeed in attaching it on a project-by-project basis, according to then Comptroller Virvus Jones.<br /><br />Jones said the 25/5 percent inclusion concept was developed by the black members of the Board of Aldermen. Jones personally wrote and passed an amendment to the Cable TV legislation that required 50/50 black inclusion on jobs and contracts created.<br /><br />“Vince was only using the formula created by the black aldermen when he agreed to the consent decree,” Jones said of Mayor Schoemehl’s 1989 executive order.<br /><br />Still, St. Louis lagged behind most metropolitan areas with similar substantial minority populations. Despite the outspoken cries and efforts of Jones and other black elected officials, little organized community pressure had been brought as of late on the St. Louis construction industry.<br /><br />But in 1988 a group of minority contractors went into battle, on both the legal and activist fronts, with the black media as their wings. At the core were five principal organizers of the 1999 I-70 Shutdown: Eddie Hasan, the visionary; Larry Ali (deceased), the strategist; Mikel Ali, the fighting spirit; Tiahmo Rauf, the master organizer; and Anthony Shahid, the brave heart.<br /><br /><strong>Six campaigns</strong><br /><br />Six major protest campaigns over the past 20 years have come to define the minority inclusion movement in this town.<br /><br />The December 1989 Federal Court Consent Decree in the lawsuit filed by the Minority Contractors Association established the City of St. Louis’ law and M/WBE program requiring 25 percent minority and 5 percent women participation on all City contracts, which still exists as the standard bearer for inclusion in the metro area.<br /><br />The minority contractors campaign against the banking community to end discriminatory business lending – including the November 1996 protest on Wall Street, in which minority contractors chartered a TWA Jet to fly over a hundred protestors to New York – ultimately resulted in a $100 million lending commitment to the minority community.<br /><br />The July 1999 I-70 Highway Morning Rush Hour Shutdown Protest involving Rev. Al Sharpton, where over 100 protestors were arrested, resulted in the establishment of the Construction Prep Center (CPC) that has now matriculated and placed hundreds of minorities into the construction industry.<br /><br />The spring 2003 campaign against Metro transit for minority inclusion on the $500 million MetroLink Project resulted in Metro agreeing to increase minority inclusion by, among other things, establishing separate goals for minorities and women on the project and breaking it down into smaller parts to enable minorities to bid as general contractors.<br /><br />The spring 2005 campaign against IDOT for lack of minority inclusion on the McKinley Bridge and I-64 projects then in progress resulted in, among other things, the establishment in East St. Louis of a construction training program modeled on the Missouri CPC.<br /><br />The fall 2005 Rosa Parks Initiative targeted and obtained inclusion on 11 major construction projects in the St. Louis area totaling over $3.6 billion over a five-year period, including the MODOT I-64 Project and the New Mississippi River Bridge Project.<br /><br />In recent MODOT/IDOT Roundtable meetings over achieving minority inclusion on the New Mississippi River Bridge project, I have been impressed by the number and eagerness of a new generation of minority and women entrepreneurs who have been attending and raising important but familiar issues.<br /><br />I think it important for them to know the history, including the history that need not be inefficiently repeated, in order that they can bring the freshness of their ideas and approach as the next layer in the movement.<br /><br />While Atlanta deservedly has earned the reputation as the Mecca of minority inclusion, I know from having served as the Special Counsel to the Washington, D.C.-based Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc., that the minority inclusion movement in St. Louis became renowned throughout the nation for its activist approach to economic justice.<br /><br />“You cannot depend on American institutions to function without pressure,” said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<br /><br />“Any real change in the status quo depends on continued creative action to sharpen the conscience of the nation and establish a climate in which even the most recalcitrant elements are forced to admit that change is necessary.”<br /><br />Attorney Eric Vickers prepared the above article for St. Louis American. Click the following link to read the article: <a href="http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2009/07/10/business/local_business/business02.txt"><span style="color:#000099;">Activist-attorney reflects on anniversary of I-70 shutdown</span></a><span style="color:#3333ff;"><br /></span><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-80837712539182330842009-07-10T19:16:00.000-07:002009-07-11T01:24:44.560-07:00Protest Announcement by AABCA-YouTube videoPlease doubleclick the following YouTube video clip to watch protest announcement by African American Business Contractors Association (AABCA)<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ex1wWfV-DB4&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ex1wWfV-DB4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />AABCA sets a protest date of Monday, July 13, 2009. 10 years almost to the date of the largest civil rights action taken in St. Louis.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-82591612597424907262009-07-10T17:20:00.000-07:002009-07-11T00:24:04.227-07:00I-70 shutdown announcement.The African-American Business and Contractors Association will conduct a news conference 11 a.m. Thursday, July 9 to announce its plans to protest on Interstate 70on Monday to highlight the continuing lack of inclusion of African-American contractors, suppliers, and trade persons on state, city and privately owned construction projects.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-57240515591739841702009-07-10T15:10:00.000-07:002009-07-11T00:05:50.659-07:00Group plans I-70 protest over minority hiring on projectsA group of minority contractors and businesspeople say plans are in the works to hold a protest Monday on Interstate 70 in the middle of festivities for the All-Star Game.<br /><br />Members of the African-American Business and Contractors Association said at a press conference Thursday that too few minority contractors are being hired as subcontractors on public projects, and the region needs to be aware of this.<br /><br />"It seems like things have changed. In reality, they have not changed," said Hilary Ogunrinde, member of the contractors association. "You should be outraged because there is discrimination in your neighborhood."<br /><br />The group plans to stop traffic downtown on I-70 during evening rush hour to create a brief inconvenience — but members stopped short of saying exactly where or how.<br /><br />Currently, state goals for disadvantaged business enterprises combine women and minority contractors. But firms owned by white women are getting most of the disadvantaged-business work — 88 percent in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. That leaves minority contractors with 12 percent. In Illinois, about 70 percent of contracts to disadvantaged businesses have gone to women contractors, and 30 percent to minorities.<br /><br />The demonstration Monday would occur 10 years and one day after a similar protest brought motorists to a halt on I-70 at Goodfellow Boulevard. That protest, which resulted in 125 arrests, vaulted tension over the lack of highway contracts for minority businesses onto a national stage.<br /><br />Ogunrinde assured that the group intends for no arrests at the protest Monday. "We will be visible," she added.<br /><br />St. Louis police said they will keep an eye on the safety of protesters. If they violate any traffic laws, "they will be arrested accordingly," said Erica Van Ross, police spokeswoman. "We hope that whenever any group exercises that right through protest, that they do so peacefully, safely and lawfully."<br /><br />The plan for a demonstration comes as discussions are under way about minority participation in the $640 million Mississippi River bridge between downtown and the Metro East area. Construction is scheduled to begin in January.<br /><br />Missouri and Illinois transportation officials have been meeting with minority contractors about the issue since February. The state departments plan to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation for a waiver so they could set separate goals for women- and minority-owned businesses in the bridge work.<br /><br />The request isn't to reduce participation by women-owned businesses, only to bring minority contractors up to the same participation, said Marisa Kollias, spokeswoman for the Illinois Transportation Department.<br /><br />Said Marie Elliott, spokeswoman for MoDOT, "We're all working toward the same thing."<br /><br />The planned protest has the support of United Congregations of Metro-East. Other representatives of minority contracting groups are lukewarm on the idea, although they say change is needed to open up opportunities for minority contractors.<br /><br />MO-KAN, which has organized other rallies, would rather see where talks go with Missouri and Illinois officials over the bridge work before protesting.<br /><br />"We have not exhausted that process," said Yaphett El-Amin, director of MoKAN.<br /><br />Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, said there are other ways to mark the 10-year anniversary of the I-70 protest. "I do believe there could be some tangible things we could do without taking the shutdown approach," she said. "I want to believe that MoDOT is trying hard in good faith to bring about participation."<br /><br />Makal Ali, president of the African-American Business and Contractors Association, said the issues are no different than they were in 1999. "Are we getting our fair share?" Ali said. "We don't feel we have."<br /><br /><strong>Courtesy of Elisa Crouch of St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Also Steve Giegerich of St. Louis Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. </strong><br /><br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-65344691653070468292009-07-10T06:57:00.000-07:002009-07-12T10:13:32.977-07:00Protest Hits the Highway-Newy York Times, July 13, 1999About 900 people converged on Interstate 70 in St. Louis yesterday, calling for more highway-construction jobs for minority workers and contractors. The protest stopped traffic for an hour, and about 200 people, including the leader of the protest, the Rev. Al Sharpton, were arrested. (Associated Press. Courtesy of New York Times, Tuesday July 13, 1999.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-37382646553849718672009-07-09T23:38:00.000-07:002009-07-10T23:53:45.253-07:00Black subcontractors get tiny percentage of DBE work"It just doesn’t add up.<br /><br />Although more minority-owned firms register with Missouri and Illinois departments of transportation to compete for subcontracting jobs, the majority of that work goes to white women.<br /><br />Statistics from MoDot show that there are 62 percent minority contractors and 38 percent women contractors certified with the department. Yet, minority firms get only 12 percent of the work and women-owned businesses get a whopping 88 percent.<br /><br />“It is a façade,” said Hilary Ogunrinde, vice president of the United Truckers Alliance.<br /><br />She said that though there are some “legitimate” companies owned by white women, “the statistics speak for themselves.”<br /><br />“There are front companies,” Ogunrinde said. “Their brothers, other family members and friends are getting the work.”<br /><br />Officials from the Missouri and Illinois departments of transportation held two public meetings this week to get public comment about a plan to separately classify minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses when issuing government contracts.<br /><br />Currently, the two groups are listed together as “disadvantaged business enterprises” or DBEs. If the two groups are separated, officials can have separate minority goals and women goals. The separate categories would be woman-owned business enterprises (WBEs) and minority business enterprises (MBEs).<br /><br />Permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration is needed to separate the two goals and mandate an individual percentage of work for both groups. The departments of transportation are working with a national consultant to prepare a proposal, which includes a disparity study, to submit by August.<br /><br />By federal law, each State must have a program in place that ensures minorities and women are given the percentage of work on projects that receive federal and state funding. But often, minorities are left out.<br /><br />For example, in June, Fred Weber, a white-owned company, was hired by MoDot for a $4.4 million segment of the $640 million Mississippi River Bridge project. Of that amount, 18 percent of the work went to subcontractors that were classified as “disadvantaged business enterprises,” which means woman- or minority- owned.<br /><br />Only one company was minority-owned, and talks have begun with another minority company, according to Marie Elliott, spokeswoman for MoDot.<br /><br />“We are committed to ensuring there is minority participation on this project,” Elliott said. “There will be other opportunities.”<br /><br />David Jackson, who works to connect minority contractors with prime contractors, said the proposal to divide the two groups is a welcomed concept.<br /><br />He has attended public hearings regarding the Mississippi River Bridge project since they began early this year.<br /><br />“The first one, I got upset because I asked what are they doing differently,” Jackson said. “But evidently, they thought about it and are heading in the right direction.”<br /><br />Consultant Eleanor Mason Ramsey said if the separation is allowed, this will be the first time in history that a State transportation agency has voluntarily separated the DBE goals. “It is a very novel approach to ensure that everyone is represented,” Ramsey said.<br /><br />Nine states on the West Coast were mandated by the circuit court to implement a similar change.<br /><br />Yaphett El-Amin, executive director of MoKan, said the decision to separate the goals for Missouri is the result of pressure her organization and others have placed on MoDot.<br /><br />Although El-Amin supports the separation of the two groups, her organization plans to contact the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether MoDot is in violation of the Civil Rights Act. El-Amin said her group will request that the flow of federal money to MoDot be halted until MoDot meets federal regulations regarding diversity.<br /><br />“Is 88 percent and 12 percent leveling the playing field?” El-Amin asked. “It’s high time that the DBE/MBE program is not treated like a stepchild.”<br /><br /><strong>MBE to DBE</strong><br /><br />Lester Woods, director of MoDot’s newly created external Civil Rights division, said the imbalance of participation among women- and minority-owned businesses is an issue nationwide.<br /><br />In the past, federal regulation required a minority business enterprise goal (MBE). But in the early 1990s, legislation through Congress changed to require a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) goal, Woods said.<br /><br /><br />“History denotes that when it went from MBE to DBE, there was a push to eliminate the program overall,” he said. “But white women and minority companies worked together on a national level to keep the program.”<br /><br />Now, it seems the two groups may be on opposite sides this time.<br /><br />While all African Americans supported the division, one organization did not. Leonard Toenjes, president of The Associated General Contractors of America–St. Louis, said his organization supports the need for minority representation in the construction field. However, his organization is against the split. He said that is not the current law and it seems as if MoDot is rushing through the process to obtain the waiver from the federal government.<br /><br />“We believe in the law of the land and we believe if due process is followed, everyone will be given a fair chance,” Toenjes said. “This is not the way to implement something like this, six weeks away from the award of the project.”<br /><br />One white woman at the meeting was unsure.<br /><br />“I don’t know how I feel bout the separation,” said Ann Schwetye, managing director of Building Works, who is white.<br /><br />She did say that the construction business “has long excluded minority-owned businesses and women.”<br /><br />Other white women were clear about their opposition but would only speak on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />“It is not fair to have women against everyone else,” said a 42-year-old white woman who operates a trucking company. “We feel we are one and we should stay as one.”<br /><br />Another white woman in the trucking business said separate goals didn’t work in the 1980s, “so what makes them think it will work now?<br /><br />“It’s not fair,” she said.<br /><br />A 27-year old white woman who owns a landscaping business added, “If they split women and minorities, what stops other groups from separating, like African Americans separated from Asians. Where does it stop?”<br /><br /><strong>I-70 shutdown announcement</strong><br /><br />The African-American Business and Contractors Association will conduct a news conference 11 a.m. Thursday, July 9 to announce its plans to protest on Interstate 70 on Monday to highlight the continuing lack of inclusion of African-American contractors, suppliers, and trade persons on state, city and privately owned construction projects."<br /><br />The above article has been published on this blog, courtesy of <a href="http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2009/07/10/news/local_news/localnews01.txt"><span style="color:#000099;">Dionne D. Peeples of St. Louis AmericanSt. Louis American</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><br /></span><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-36211955513177125702009-07-09T09:57:00.000-07:002009-07-12T10:00:21.042-07:00Protest Hits the Highway-Courtesy of New York Times, July 13, 1999.About 900 people converged on Interstate 70 in St. Louis yesterday, calling for more highway-construction jobs for minority workers and contractors. The protest stopped traffic for an hour, and about 200 people, including the leader of the protest, the Rev. Al Sharpton, were arrested. (Associated Press).Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-67466948053936207332009-07-09T09:51:00.000-07:002009-07-12T09:55:58.009-07:00Protest Hits the Highway-Courtesy of New York Times, July 13, 1999"About 900 people converged on Interstate 70 in St. Louis yesterday, calling for more highway-construction jobs for minority workers and contractors. The protest stopped traffic for an hour, and about 200 people, including the leader of the protest, the Rev. Al Sharpton, were arrested. (Associated Press)" <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/13/us/protest-hits-the-highway.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Published in The New York Times, Tuesday, July 13, 1999.</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> </span>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-40921620478700274822009-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:002009-07-10T23:18:40.981-07:00Obama Economic Stimulus/40 Acres and a MuleForums and seminars to educate the public about tapping into the stimulus dollars have been held, and with the Act being the most transparent federal financial legislation ever, the internet provides an array of information about the governmental pipelines stimulus dollars are being pumped through.<br /><br />What is missing, however, is a sense of how these stimulus dollars will prove transformational for the minority community. While the vast federal dollars spent under the Public Works Act of 1977 mandated 10% of those dollars being set aside for minority businesses - causing, according to Congressional testimony, "$600 million to be awarded to minority businesses" - there is nothing in the seven-hundred page stimulus Act that even mentions minorities.<br /><br />Astonishingly silent on this, the stimulus Act leaves it to the federal agencies and states through which the stimulus dollars are funneled to apply whatever minority inclusion laws they might have. Consequently, neither the $446 million in stimulus dollars slated for the Missouri Department of Transportation nor the still undetermined millions to flow through the governor’s office have any minority inclusion requirements.<br /><br />MODOT’s funds are controlled by federal regulations (that dropped during the Reagan era the use of the word “minority”), which require that a certain percentage of contract dollars be awarded to “Disadvantaged Business Enterprises” (DBEs). Not surprisingly, the data is overwhelming that those who have mostly obtained contracts under the DBE standard, as opposed to the M[inority]BE standard, have been white women.<br /><br />Missouri has never had any statewide legislation requiring minority inclusion in its public expenditures. In disbursing stimulus funds to the St. Louis area, the governor’s office says it will rely on the City and the County’s respective laws regarding minority inclusion. That is encouraging because the law of the land in the City since 1990 has been that minorities receive 25% and women 5% of all city contracts, but discouraging because the County has never had any such inclusion law.<br /><br />All of this illustrates that the massive stimulus spending, which is supposed to be transformative, is being injected into governmental programs for minority inclusion that themselves need transformation.<br /><br />When the 10% minority set aside provision of the 1977 Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, its intended transformational effect on the American economy – to diversify it – became recognized as an economic objective in the national interest, as well as a way to address the disparity instilled by a once slave-based economy. That provision transformed the landscape of minority economic empowerment, as across the nation states, cities, counties, school districts, universities, and public agencies of all sorts initiated inclusion mandates.<br /><br />Now, after thirty years of legislative, legal and activist wrestling to stake out a share of the public contracting market for minorities, another transformation needs to occur.<br /><br />Beyond establishing at the horizontal level a 10% market base, the mission of Maryland Congressman Parren Mitchell, in sponsoring this provision of the 1977 Act, was to build minority businesses into being competitive and innovative forces. He pictured minority business development "as a means of dealing with the high rate of unemployment among minority workers." Thus, building the capacity of minority firms is now the vertical economic challenge.<br /><br />If the stimulus Act can accomplish this, then perhaps at long last the government will deliver on its forty acres and a mule promise – independence through entrepreneurship.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />St. Louis Metropolitan. </strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693291192267664570.post-28713253673721254742009-06-20T21:58:00.000-07:002009-06-22T22:12:21.596-07:00I.E. Millstone Inclusion History<strong>Dear Minority Contractors: </strong><br /><br />I thought you might find of interest something that was reported about Mr. I.E. Millstone, the founder of Millstone-Bangert who recently passed, in the New York Times this week: "At Millstone Construction... Mr. Millstone earned a reputation for his support of civil rights, refusing to sign some contracts unless uinons admitted African-Americans. In the 1940s and 1950s, he started vocational schools for black men to become skilled tradesemen eligible for jobs and bricklayers, plumbers and welders." Millstone-Bangert's commitment to inclusion apparently runs deep. We need many more I.E. Millstones.<br /><br /><strong>Eric E. Vickers<br />Attorney, Minority Inclusion Alliance<br />Metropolitan St. Louis.</strong>Attorney Eric Vickershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04991709635037415442noreply@blogger.com0