The events of our normal daily lives have been eclipsed by the 9-11 tragedy in New York and the US war against Afghanistan, but life goes on. "Racism is still here and the struggle for equality by people of color continues. Even in the graveyard rubble of ground zero at the World Trade Center site, Black contractors will have to fight to get any work out of the clean-up and restoration. To date, Black contractors have not been invited!" exclaims Arnold Jolivet, Executive Director of the National Association of Minority Contractors, in his Washington, D. C. office. He was preparing to leave for a meeting with Pentagon officials about minority contractor participation in the estimated $300 million restoration work at the Pentagon.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Jolivet was "simmering" over a report citing that between 1992 and 1998, the percentage of Blacks contracting with the federal government plummeted from 6% to just over 1%. He attributes this to white women being added to the minority goals in 1987 without expanding the goal percentages. "White women are considered the real beneficiaries of affirmative action," he commented. Ironically, in California white women voters didn't recognize these benefits and 52% voted for Proposition 209, which "gutted" affirmative action.

Meanwhile, on that same day, October 31, the Supreme Court began deliberating over the constitutionality of the Federal Minority Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program (DBE) in the case of Adarand Constructors, Inc. vs. Norman Y. Mineta. Adarand, a white Colorado contractor, originally sued before the Supreme Court in 1995 and was subsequently admitted to the DBE program itself. "After being allowed to become a DBE, Adarand probably found the DBE program to be so weak, that it wasn't worth it to drop his lawsuit," states Richmond Contractor Ted Smith, who is attempting to reorganize the Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

Surprisingly, however, the Supreme Court, as the guardian of freedom and equal opportunity, is in itself one of the most racist institutions of government. Of the Supreme Court's 34 law clerks, only one is African American and he does not work for Black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as would be expected.

But it's not all bad. In San Francisco, the leadership of Black political organizations and civil rights groups have been meeting for months to present Mayor Willie Brown a plan of empowerment for Blacks before he leaves office in 2 years. One goal is to have Black representation in the California State legislature for Northern California. But the Mayor pre-empted this goal by tapping the former President of the San Francisco School Board, Black attorney Steve Phillips, to run for the Mayor's old seat in the Assembly. There has been no Black representation for Northern California since State Senator Barbara Lee won her US Congressional seat.

On other fronts, SAT achievement tests for University entrance is still hotly debated at the University of California as putting minority groups at a disadvantage. In the first 6 months of 2001, Citibank did not make one SBA-guaranteed loan to a Black business. Black American Express Chairman Kenneth Chenault's picture with President George Bush was used worldwide in the media. The Black President of Merrill Lynch boldly fired two company officials that he beat out for the top post, like any other white executive. Michael Jordan, with an estimated fortune of $399 million, was No. 13 among the wealthiest Americans under 40. Life goes on.