May/June 2010

I have an obsession with never repeating myself, but I often do, as my family frequently reminds me. I guess it only works on paper. Therefore, whether I've said it before over the last 25½ years, these things bear repeating.

I don't intend to recount the years of slavery, segregation, and discrimination, yet we all know that the suffering of our indigenous population, of black people, and the discrimination and even misogyny directed towards women has taken years to overcome. And although immigration is not our focus, racial profiling is everyone's issue, or should be. Much of this has disappeared, or at least gone underground, but we have an obligation to future generations to keep those memories alive.
History forgotten is history repeated.

That is not to say that we haven't made progress. We have indeed. In 1756, Lydia Chapin Taft became the first woman to vote in America. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870. The Nineteenth Amendment prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex.
It was ratified on August 18, 1920.

The current issues that we address in this magazine are many of the same ones we've been reporting all along. The struggle for equal opportunity looms large when there is no driving force behind the commitment to do business with diverse suppliers. Whether that commitment comes from the top at the corporation or from compliance with legislative requirements, it's often necessary to nudge things along in the right direction.

As to affirmative action in the business arena, which far too many people have said is "welfare for minorities and women," there is an ongoing effort to overturn legislation that requires at least a share of contracts be awarded to minority- and woman-owned businesses. The dismantling of many fine local and state programs, designed to assure inclusiveness, continues.

Furthermore, one of the pervading challenges for small businesses, not just diverse businesses, is access to capital. In 1970 when I first applied for a loan, I was asked to provide my husband's signature. And Rebecca Boenigk, this month's cover subject, was required to do the same. We've come a long way, baby - or have we?

Even the way we look at issues seems to have a taint of discrimination. Just because the current nominee to the Supreme Court is a woman, why does the mainstream press focus on the fact that the women will now number three? More important are her credentials and her experience.

As we prepare this issue of the magazine, which will be distributed at the Women's Business Enterprise National Council's annual conference, we are reminded of the successes that women business owners have had. And as we gear up for this fall's National Minority Supplier Development Council conference, we'll be witnessing a gathering of some of the most successful business owners in the country, who just happen to be minorities.

Everything is not equal yet, and probably never will be. You may say that these are old issues. I wish that they were, but unfortunately they're not.

Running a business is not easy. Neither is challenging the status quo. But if we can keep our doors open in spite of the economy, globalization, and changes in technology, we can surely work to sustain the progress we've made and give the next guy a hand up.

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