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submitted 8 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency, founded during the Nixon administration, must avail itself to disadvantaged entrepreneurs of all races and ethnicities, including whites.

The summary judgment rendered on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, appointed in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, was the latest in a recent series of federal court decisions rolling back decades of affirmative action programs aimed at remedying racial discrimination.

Pittman, a judge in the Forth Worth branch of the Northern Texas District, sided with two white businessmen who sued the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), a branch of the Commerce Department, last year after being denied benefits on the basis of race.

The plaintiffs were told they were ineligible for agency assistance because they were not members of any of the races or ethnicities included on a list of qualified minorities presumed to be disadvantaged and thus entitled to services, according to the judge's summary of the case.

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[-] Neato@ttrpg.network 54 points 8 months ago

Wielding anti-discrimination laws to keep the oppressed oppressed.

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[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 40 points 8 months ago
[-] quindraco@lemm.ee 9 points 8 months ago

Maybe "racism is bad" shouldn't be a hot take.

[-] tastysnacks@programming.dev 4 points 8 months ago
[-] beardown@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

Provide unprecedented aid and create social programs that aid the working class and that would create the strongest and most generous welfare state on earth, stronger than even that which exists in Scandinavia

Which is what we must demand the Democrats support

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[-] wahming@monyet.cc 30 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Honestly I don't understand the problem here. Poverty is a class issue, not a race issue. Who cares what somebody's skin colour is if they need help?

Edit: Apparently calling out racism is controversial in US subs 🤷

[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago

It's not controversial, but it is ignorant of the underlying issues. Yes, poverty is a class issue; but it's also a race issue. It's a lot easier for a white person to change their class than it is for a black person (or any person of color). Give a white person a million dollars and they are accepted almost everywhere. Give a black person a million dollars and they are still denied access to opportunities.

If you give two race car drivers the same car and training, but one of them has friends/family who are a fully professional crew to do their pit stops and the other doesn't have any friends who know about cars and has to change their own tires and fill their gas tank, then guess who is going to win that race. If you give those same two drivers the same professional pit crew but one has a shitty car, then guess who is going to win. The problem is unequal starting points requiring unequal assistance to ensure equal ending points. Giving everyone equal access to equipment/training doesn't give equal endpoints if the starting point is different.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Go ahead and breakdown black/white ancestry for me, judge for us who belongs to what race, because America truly is a melting pot, kind of a mess.

Fuck me, I dated a Jamaican woman that had pale(ish) skin and hazel eyes, but seriously tight curls. Black or no? My wife is 50/50 Japanese/Pilipino. Which is she?

Here's a starter guide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischling_Test

Quadroons count as black? How about octoroons? 1/16th, uh, roon?

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

You guys are agreeing. Their analogy is talking about systemic racism and not getting the same treatment.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I get systemic racism and privilege. As a middle-aged white guy, I'm stunned at the privilege, even vs. being a poor young white guy watching blacks get fucked over. Man do I have stories.

But granting government privilege by race sounds kinda messy, given my post, doesn't it?

My point is, we're so genetically mixed, it's getting harder by the day to point to a person and say, "Black!", or anything else. Jo Koy has some hilarious standup about Philippinos being the Mexicans of Asia. If you dropped me in a room with my wife's friends, and put in ear plugs, I couldn't tell!

Anyway, I'm white as fuck, and it's obvious. Maybe I should shut up.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Well if you want an answer, go tell a racist you have a black great grandparent. They subscribe to the one drop theory. But it's also not just about current stuff. It's about the generational trauma too. Just because someone was born lighter than their parents does not erase the difficulty inherent in anything involving their parents. Getting into school, camps, sports, banking, networking, etc.

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[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 23 points 8 months ago

Because whenever you try to target class, it ends up excluding on race.

Every single time it just so happens that white applicants hoovered up all the available program benefits and NOBODY ever knows why!

Not to mention the racial wealth gap, it is impossible to achieve racial equality so long as the same amount is being given to everyone. All that's doing is maintaining the current wealth gap, it does nothing to close the gap.

Equality will not be achieved until white people can fucking let go of the fact that black folks have to get stuff that white people will not for everyone to be on the same playing field, and that's just economically, we're not even talking about how "just hire the most qualified candidate!" only ever seems to be an issue when the qualified candidate is a PoC.

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[-] MinorLaceration@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago

"Who cares what somebody's skin colour is if they need help?"

Exactly. Helping people is helping people, regardless of who.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Calling out racism? Are you really going to come in here with the affirmative action equals racism line and expect not to get downvoted?

Go look up banking while black and come back and tell me it's just a class issue.

[-] eatthecake@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Texas already offers help for small business regardless of minority status:

The Governor's Office of Small Business Assistance and the Business Permit Office assist small and medium Texas businesses through advocacy, entrepreneurial support, education and technical assistance. The team serves as a focal point in the state for start-ups and small businesses of all sizes in urban, suburban and rural communities. The offices offer a variety of services, including assistance with permitting, licensing and regulatory compliance, small business resource referrals and informational small business webinars and events.

If a society is to properly serve the needs of all it's members then it must recognise that those needs differ, sometimes due to historical and ongoing abuse of certain groups. A one size fits all approach to social services is not going to work. Targeted help is needed and when racism is a factor then that help will naturally reflect the problem.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

My wife is half Japanese, half Pilipino. So which is she?

Now take that to America. What if a person is half black, half white? The Nazis had some great ideas on breaking this sort of thing down.

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[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Also please, could we call it "ethnicity?" Even white people can jump in the band wagon on this. There's only one race, the human race. Race is not a scientific term, it's a bullshit political term meant to create separation. I'm here to tell you that I'm brown and proud of knowing that I'm simply homosapiens and that there are no other actual scientifically distinct "breathes or races" it's just "human". If I wasn't pointed as brown all the time I would marry someone else from anywhere in the world... I did end up doing that and my kids don't look like I did when I was a baby, but they look like mommy and daddy in many different ways. You call this "look" or set of features "race" thinking like a racist that it actually means a distinct different humanoid that cannot have offspring with you or other humanoid species. But again you are wrong. Only one smart hominid species called homosapiens. Everything else is just non scientific bullshit.

[-] BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Race is not a biological term but it's absolutely a sociological term, i.e. a complex social construct we've created based on superficial physical characteristics

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[-] irreticent@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

...but not all sexual orientations.

[-] neptune@dmv.social 3 points 8 months ago

They probably could have served in the military or merged with a slightly bigger company already owned by minorities.

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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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