Samuel L. Myers - Race Neutrality: Rationalizing Remedies to Racial Inequality

Race Neutrality

Race Neutrality

Rationalizing Remedies to Racial Inequality

Samuel L. Myers, Jr. and Inhyuck Steve Ha

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ISBN 978-0-7391-8561-2 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-7391-8562-9 (electronic)

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Contents

Many graduate research assistants and former staff members of the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota have contributed to the work of this book.

We wish to thank Andriana Abariotes, Giovann Alarcon, Irma Arteaga, Akua Asare, Karimatou Bah, Del Brown, Jennifer Bynes, Juan Cardena, Xinzhi Chen, Britt Cecconi Cruz, Ana Cuesta, Shuyi Deng, Alejandra Diaz, Patryk Drescher, Thomas Durfee, Patrick Gao, Nathaniel Gibbs, Brian Hagerty, Jason Hicks, Aaliyah Hodge, Molly Illes, Cheryl Jeffries, Cheniqua Johnson, Lawrence Karongo, Hyeoneui Kim, Illenin Kondo, Yufeng Lai, Eryn Lee, Pa Houa Lee, Soomin Lee, Summe Lee, Tou Lee, Won Fy Lee, Rodrigo Lovaton Davila, Allan Malkis, Cheryl Mandala, Jose L. Mazas, Merone Meleken, Jessica Y Molina, Kevin Monroe, Jose Pacas, Jonathan Palmer, Lan Pham, Patricia Torres Ray, Michelle Revels, Julieth Santamaria, Bosu Seo, Jin Song, Terri Thao, Nathan Tiller, Diana Vega Vega, Gaozoupa Vue, David Waithaka, Quin Williams, and Man Xu.

Valuable editorial assistance was provided by Julia Blount, Jacqueline Higgins, Mary Lou Garza Iroegbu, and Shawn Monahan. Expert administrative and executive assistance over the years has been provided by Judy Leahy Grimes, Blanca Monter Monroy, Lawrencina Mason Oramalu, and Roseann Zimbro.

We would like to thank Dr. Sheila Diann Ards, former Associate Vice President of the University of Minnesota, for her support of our collaborative research and our use of parts of previously coauthored papers.

Many thanks as well to Bruce Corrie, Judge Lajune Lange, and Yuan Gao for use of parts of our previously circulated coauthored papers.

Generous support to the Wilkins Center permitting the research and writing was provided by the US Fulbright Foundation, the Roy Wilkins Endowment, the Minneapolis Foundation, the Bremer Foundation, the General Mills Foundation, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Institutes of Health, Minnesota Department of Transportation, and New Jersey Transit Corporation.

This book has its origins in Samuel Myers and Inhyuck Steve Has collaborative research, examining the biggest affirmative action program of all time: public procurement and contracting. We, the authors, were contracted in 1999 by New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJT) to conduct a study to determine whether there were statistically significant disparities between the availability and utilization of women- and minority-owned business contractors in the market place in which NJT conducted business. We also were asked to determine whether any observed disparities could be attributed to discrimination. Based on the results of the study, conducted when Steve Ha was a graduate student and research assistant at the University of Minnesota, NJT embarked on a vigorous and sustained program of affirmative action in public procurement and contracting. Consistent with applicable rules and legislative mandates, the research team from the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota has applied novel econometric methodologies to establish the NJT participation goals for minorities and women and to partition these goals between race-conscious and race-neutral components for more than fifteen years. The methodology has withstood legal challenges in the federal courts in New Jersey and in Minnesota. Our methodology for measuring and applying the concept of race-neutrality in the case of public procurement and contracting is rooted in our collaborative work over the decades.