Greetings, Tabor Neighbors!
Now is the time when this organization can help the most. While the sentiment in Washington state is not as openly hostile to communities of color, in other places, the rampant trampling of our rights is proudly touted by some – Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and, yes, my home state – Mississippi, to name a few. We should never believe that the sort of assaults on Black people that occur in these other states (i.e – middle schools must teach that “Blacks benefited from slavery) can’t make their way here.

I speak on this issue because while Tabor 100 is a minority business organization and puts much of its focus on Black and other minority entrepreneurs, no line exists between business and civil rights. It is important that we ensure basic equity for the minority population of which Washington state saw the largest increase (percentage wise) in the last US census.
It is also important to point out that while Supreme Court decisions on higher education might wipe away the use of affirmative action there, the next step is contracting and employment so that we have a country in which efforts to promote equity become illegal. Already, a group of 13 Republican Attorneys Generals have sent letters to the top 100 companies in the country warning they could take legal action against them for setting hiring quotas or treating job applicants differently because of race. Twenty-one Democratic State Attorneys Generals, including our own Bob Ferguson, wrote a letter to the same corporations in support of Diversity and Inclusion programs and condemning the Republicans who “….purposefully seek to undermine efforts to reduce racial inequities in corporate America.” And in many states, the work is already underway to dismantle laws that promote equity in contracting.

Now, more than ever, Tabor 100 is a necessary institution, working with many others, we must monitor and address efforts to take away programs to promote equity and ensure civil rights.