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.

  • wahming@monyet.cc
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    8 months ago

    The root cause is the racism.

    Yes, so fix the racism. Get rid of the racist officials. Teaching an entire new generation that racism is acceptable if it’s against the right colour (sound familiar?) is not the way to go about eliminating racism.

    Poor whites aren’t poor because…

    By your logic, they obviously didn’t benefit from those policies either. Does it matter WHY they’re poor and struggling? Maybe we could just help everybody who’s deserving?

    • june@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      fix the racism

      Oh my god, why didn’t we think about that? I’m gonna go tell everyone. I’m pretty sure you just fixed everything! Thank you!

      Next, I think I’ll just stop being sad so I can stop taking my anti-depressants!

      • wahming@monyet.cc
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        8 months ago

        GIven your current idea of the best approach is ‘double down on the racism’, I felt I had no choice but to start with the basics.

        • june@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          No, all you’ve shown is a profound ignorance of the situation and why affirmative action programs are a part of the solution.

          Lifting marginalized communities and peoples by providing them additional support is not racism. Full stop.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yes, so fix the racism.

      Oh, that should be easy.

      It’s impossible to judge someone’s thoughts and reasons for why they do something, but it’s easy to enforce a set of rules that makes them do something else.

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Racism has had multi-generational effects. Fixing racism now doesn’t elevate the inequality affecting people whose ancestors were enslaved, beaten, and robbed