Chicago Mayor Candidates: Only Black People Should Be Considered Minorities

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Written By:
Rob Port

Dec 16, 2010
6:06pm

And you would call that racism, but remember that liberal doctrine tells us that minorities can’t be racist by definition:

Mayoral challenger James Meeks came under fire Thursday for suggesting that only African-Americans should be eligible for city contracts set aside for minorities and women.

Meeks made the statement on Wednesday during an interview on WVON Radio.

It happened during a discussion of why African-American businesses got a 7 percent sliver of Chicago’s $1 billion spending pie through Aug. 31, down from 8 percent a year ago.

“The word ‘minority’ from our standpoint should mean African-American. I don’t think women, Asians and Hispanics should be able to use that title,” he said. “That’s why our numbers cannot improve — because we use women, Asians and Hispanics who are not people of color, who are not people who have been discriminated against.”

Meeks (who was a close friend of Obama’s once upon a time) started backtracking immediately, but not far enough:

Hours later, Meeks backtracked on his comments, saying he would only exclude white women from set asides if elected mayor. The set-aside program currently earmarks 25 percent of all city contracts for minorities and 5 percent for companies owned by women.

“I don’t believe white women should be considered in that count.… You have white women in the category. They receive contracts. Then, white men receive contracts. Where does that leave everybody else?” he said in an interview with Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 news.

That’s racist, of course, but then so is the notion that the City of Chicago is handing out city contracts based on skin color. In fact, that’s outrageously racist.

Contracts should be granted based on cost, ability and merit irregardless of the skin color of those who own or work at the business. If we want to be a color blind society, then we have got to stop making decisions based on color.