A group of legislative and minority business leaders at a disparity study roundtable Monday used the calendar in their attempt to put the systemic economic shortcomings of companies owned by underserved groups in perspective.
Consider:
- It has been nine months since the state released a shamelessly poor disparity study that showed what everyone already knew: Companies owned by Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Veterans, Women and those in the LGBTQ community have been woefully denied even the smallest percentage of contracts their population figures would suggest;
- It has been 19 months since State Sen. Ron Rice, the longest serving Black legislator in state history and the undisputed champion of equity, passed away;
- It has been 28 years since State Sen. Nellie Pou said she has been attempting to tackle the issue;
- And it has been approximately 400 years since the problem initially began.
That being said, only two timeframes really matter:
Two months: The time legislators have to act on the package of 12 well-meaning and helpful bills introduced in September by Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly, Speaker Pro Tempore.
Fourteen months: The time Gov. Phil Murphy has remaining in office.
Murphy, afterward, said he was confident something good could come off a study that is, undisputedly, filled with so much bad. He called himself a glass-half-full guy.
“I’m highly optimistic we’re going to get some good results,” he said. “I really believe that we’ve got a really good relationship with both the legislators as well as the (minority business) chambers that represent the overwhelming amount of entities that have been impacted here.
“So, I’m very confident we’ll get there.”
There are reasons for pessimism.
The heads of the various chambers acknowledge privately that they are concerned the bills don’t go far enough — don’t do enough to ensure the system will change.
They also say they hear a lot of talk but not a lot of action. They point to those 12 well-meaning bills that are still in various committees. And they point out that high-priority bills usually don’t stay long in committee.
The waiting is not just the hardest part — but also the most unfair part for those hoping for a stronger and fairer economy, they say.
Gurpreet Pasricha, the founder of the Punjabi Chamber of Commerce and a relatively new public voice on the issue, offered perhaps the strongest statements of the nearly one-hour event.
“I think we have to think about what will happen if we do nothing,” he said. “We heard 400 years. We’ve heard 28 years.
“A whole generation in the last 28 years has been decimated when you really think about it. They have not had the opportunity that they should have, and shame on all of us, if we do nothing.
“I’m not in the legislature, but I really urge everyone in the legislature to take this seriously and let the next generation have a chance.
“Now, maybe on the tail end, we can have some of the folks in those 28 years get something at the end of their careers. But think about others that just didn’t have the opportunity, who felt left out and really disillusioned. That’s really important.”
The desire to do something, anything — is the cry from those who have been left out and left behind for so long.
They wonder how all the elected officials can quickly voice their outrage at one comment made at one rally about Puerto Rico in New York City — but are slow to react to years of systemic shortcomings toward all minorities in this state.
They want to see action taken in days and weeks — not months and years.
Murphy acknowledges he could impart change today, using executive order — a tool he used continuously during the pandemic.
He doesn’t want to go that route.
“Put aside constitutionality, legal basis, etc., I do know one thing about executive orders: Whoever the next governor is, God bless them, can undo that executive order,” he said.
“You heard the word legacy in that room a lot. We want this thing to be the foundation that lasts forever.”
Parimal Garg, his chief counsel, broke the situation down with more detail later in the day.
“We certainly want to see significant action taken and be implemented by the time the governor leaves office, but I think it’s important to recognize that we have made huge strides just in terms of getting the study done, getting the legislation drafted and introduced, making sure that our partners in the legislature are on the same page.
“We understand it’s been a long process, but I think these issues demand that you be thoughtful about them.”
Fast is not always better, Garg said.
“If we had come in, in January of 2018, and quickly put together some bills that would have been designed to address racial disparities, signed them, held a big event and declared ‘Mission accomplished,’ those bills would have been struck down in court almost immediately and we wouldn’t have made any progress at all,” he said.
“I think the governor is taking the long view. He wants to make substantive progress, even if that means moving a little bit more slowly than we would like to in an ideal world.”
Murphy vowed to get something done.
“I think everybody joins me when I say this, ‘Doing nothing is not going to happen,’” he said. “So, the question is: What are we doing? How fast? What’s the sequence? What’s part of it?”
And will it take months, years or generations before it happens.
