CEE is an umbrella coalition of associations serving diverse minority- and women-owned businesses that was first formed in 1982 in response to an almost total exclusion of MBEs and WBEs from San Francisco’s public contracting system. In 1984, the Coalition succeeded in securing enactment of San Francisco’s first contracting equity ordinance introduced by Supervisors Doris M. Ward and Willie B. Kennedy. Since that time, the Coalition has worked to strengthen and defend contracting equity programs throughout the Bay Area, as well as at the state and federal levels.

CEE has confirmed with the Federal Highway Administration that the Caltrans’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program needs no further approvals to set goals for improving the awarding of these contracts.

“In these tough economic times, inclusion in these federally funded projects is a critical opportunity for California’s small minority- and women-owned businesses.,” said Aileen Hernandez, Chair of the Coalition for Economic Equity. “We need to see immediate implementation of these contract goals to ensure that California small businesses will not miss out on transportation projects slated to receive millions in ‘stimulus funds’ allocated under the recently-authorized American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”

CEE has been a moving force behind efforts to maintain race-conscious goals for all federal projects. CEE aggressively pursued both the Federal Highway Administration and Caltrans to clear the bureaucratic red-tape that was blocking re-instatement of Caltrans’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Goal and Methodology program.

According to Oren Sellstrom, Associate Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and legal counsel for the Coalition, “Without race-conscious contracting goals, minority- and women-owned businesses are often left out of the loop entirely and given no chance to compete. Setting goals helps open opportunities for previously excluded groups, provides employment in communities most often devastated by economic downturns and ultimately means savings for taxpayers as well.”

In the years since Caltrans suspended its DBE program, DBE participation on federal transportation contracts in California has decreased from 10.9 percent in 2005 to 2.2 percent in 2008.

“Reinstatement of the Caltrans DBE program is a must,” Hernandez and Sellstrom agree, “and it is crucial to update the data to ensure that all “significant disparities” groups have access to the program. It is also urgent that government, at all levels, move swiftly and creatively to identify, recruit and support America’s small businesses as a vital part of a healthy domestic and global economy. The Coalition will continue its efforts to eliminate discrimination from the public contracting process for as long as necessary to achieve a fair, efficient and transparent process.”

Tammy Johnson on racewire.com talks about her concerns over the use of racially coded language in President Obama’s address to Congress earlier this week.  Her post has additional comments in addition to the video.

It’s interesting to take Tammy’s analysis and compare it to George Lakoff’s pre-speech assessment of the “Obama Code,” his definition of how the President tends to “express his moral vision indirectly” – “connects with his audience using what cognitive scientists call the ‘cognitive unconscious,’ ” and utilizes “seven deep, insightful, and subtle intellectual moves.”

Mike Lux also weighs in on The Speech saying that the President’s address could not have been a clearer call for what Mike identifies as the “Big Change Moment” in his new book “The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be.”

As an organization involved with UNITY, it will be fascinating to see what the survey reveals.

It’s also the first time I’ve heard of the Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based The Loop, but I’m a new fan.

“The Loop provides in-depth analysis of economics and politics, plus black opinion, from across the nation. Our mission is to lead the debate on black progress in America by looking beyond the headlines to uncover how news affects the lives of people of color. The Loop looks at the problems that hold us back and highlights thoughtful ideas and solutions. In short, we tell you what the mainstream news doesn’t. And we want everyone to join the conversation. Issues thought of as ‘black issues’ — education, poverty, civil rights — are national issues that affect people of every race.”

Watch Rinku Sen on Meet the Bloggers at 1pm ET: http://meetthebloggers.org/?utm_source=rgemail

Joining Sen will be bloggers Adia Harvey Wingfield (Racism Review), Joshua Busch (Double Take 08), and Liliana Segura (AlterNet). All three have written extensively about this topic, as you can see from the material below. Check out their articles, and join them in the live blog discussion today at 1pm ET/10 am PT at Meet the Bloggers.

• White Progressives Don’t Get It — Rinku Sen, Applied Research Center
• Reject the Hate in ’08! Don’t Fall for Racist Tactics — Joshua Busch, Double Take 08
• Backlash: Six Challenges to McCain’s Racist Fearmongering — Liliana Segura, AlterNet
• How White Privilege Works — Adia Harvey Wingfield, Racism Review
• Tell McCain to End the Politics of Hate — Brave New Films

TIME’s Peter Beinart in an article titled “Is He American Enough?“: “With their incessant talk about who loves their country and who doesn’t, McCain and Palin are doing something different: they’re using race to make Obama seem anti-American.” [Thanks to David Wilson for bringing this article to our attention!]

From an unattributed blog post, “McCain takes on ‘that one’,” on the Chicago Tribune’s Exploring Race forum: “When I heard the comment, I wondered: Was it racial? (And not in a conscious way. It just sort of had a tinge of “you people.”) … That’s the thing about race: if you’re a person of color and you hear something like that, it can pull you up short and you’re simply left to wonder.”

Politico’s Jonathan Martin thinks that “McCain will be accused of racism regardless“: John McCain is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. He could never mention Jeremiah Wright and ensure his campaign aides don’t either, and he’d still be accused of running a racist campaign. … But is McCain doing anything overtly racist? No. … That doesn’t matter, though, to the outrage industry, ever on the lookout for any sign of racism and quick to pounce even when it’s not there. … McCain has not called Obama “a terrorist.”

Philadelphia Daily News columnist Christine M. Flowers in “Obama camp’s racial decoders” says that “race has become the not-so-secret weapon of the Obama camp, allowing it to both promote the candidate as a historic step forward while at the same time attack his opponents with the bigot label. And the polls say that it seems to be working. I’m not saying that Obama will win or lose because of the color of his skin. He probably won’t.”

Commentary by Dr. David C. Wilson, Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Relations at the University of Delaware:

Who’s on First?….”That One”
 
So-what John McCain is 72, and has grandparent tendencies, Barack Obama is a United States Senator, a presidential nominee, a father, and a human being.
 
What’s most interesting to me about the “that one” comment is that it’s not necessarily the comment that’s indicative of the underlying racial meaning, it’s the use of it with Senator Obama. Saying “that one” to a white male (or a real child) would be relatively fine in context, but if it’s a woman, a racial minority, or other underrepresented political group member (e.g., disabled person), it’s closer to an “ism.”
 
But, to be clear, there is a difference (in social scientific thinking) between “racism” and “racialized” behavior; they are not one in the same. Racism rests on an ideology of a group’s biological superiority/inferiority, whereas racialized behavior is an action that calls attention to race, bringing about consequences that can be intentional or unintentional. I’m not denying that racialized behavior is not influenced by racism (that would be naïve), but McCain’s “that one” statement is closer to racialized behavior.
 
However, by no means should we look at McCain’s “that one” behavior in a vacuum. His “that one” comment, in conjunction with the personal attacks (e.g., “who Obama is” and a lack of reciprocal admiration for Obama’s storied background), and a refusal to look at Obama along with other very cold interpersonal behavior (e.g., no real salutation at the handshake) are all indicators of McCain’s apparent discomfort or antipathy toward Obama. McCain definitely does not respect Obama. We know this because he hasn’t apologized for anything he’s done or said recently.
 
My point is that John McCain is not racist, but regardless of what most people might think, at the very least John McCain displayed a social dominance orientation targeted at something about Barack Obama. Perhaps it was Obama’s height (i.e., Obama is taller), or his party affiliation…..or maybe it’s just plain okay to say McCain sees more of Obama’s race than he thinks (or knows… shout out to all my psychologist friends).