A few months ago, I wrote about the fact that Indiana Governor Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita openly colluded to ignore the law by ceasing to award a very small percentage of state contracts to minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises. (These are known respectively as MBEs and WBEs.) Mr. Rokita claimed that such contracts discriminated against “Caucasian people” (his words). He apparently forgot that the vast majority of WBEs are owned by “Caucasian” women.
Notably, the Governor and the AG made their declaration without support from the Indiana General Assembly.
Mr. Braun and Mr. Rokita have kept their word.
The State of Indiana was awarded $100 million in federal dollars to build electric vehicle (EV) charging stations back in 2022. The value of that government award has shrunk by 25%, but $75 million is still a substantial sum for our State. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is responsible for executing this project, which is known as “Charging the Crossroads.” Indiana petitioned the federal government to waive the requirement to target MBEs and WBEs. (The current target is about 8%.) The federal government readily accommodated Indiana’s request.
“The project’s name should be changed to ‘Burning the Cross … roads.'”
The project’s name should be changed to “Burning the Cross … roads.”
In the same year that Indiana was awarded the federal dollars, INDOT sponsored a study that examined the disparity in the awarding of its contracts to MBEs and WBEs. Specifically, the research firm that INDOT hired studied “the percentage of contract and procurement dollars INDOT awarded to POC- and women-owned businesses…” It also looked at “the percentage of contract and procurement dollars POC- and women-owned businesses might be expected to receive based on their availability to perform specific types and sizes of INDOT prime contracts and subcontracts…”
The report concluded that the State should keep the WBE and MBE goals. Otherwise, the disparity that exists between MBE/WBE owners and businesses that are owned by white men would continue to widen. Now, in 2026, that conclusion has proven to be prescient. It is not clear that any contracts will be awarded to MBEs and WBEs.
How, in good conscience, can Indiana be so blatantly discriminatory? Imagine if we had a Black governor who did everything that he could to harm businesses that white people owned. Similarly, imagine if we had a woman Governor who precluded contracts from being awarded to men. How many nanoseconds would it take for either of them to be run out of office?
Federal rules (at least as of today) require INDOT to prove that it will award contracts on a non-discriminatory basis. Yet, the opacity of its processes precludes the public from knowing on what bases it awards contracts. What INDOT does in the dark should be brought into the light.
As a fiscal, practical and moral matter, drivers of color pay the same taxes as everyone else does. Given that the State is averse to awarding contracts to our businesses, we should be exempt from paying said taxes. “Taxation without representation” is a principle that should not only apply to the process of electing politicians. It should also apply to supporting the businesses — all the businesses — that comprise the backbone of our economy.
My family has lived in this state for five generations. I cannot count the number of times that I have heard my fellow Hoosiers — Black and white — complain about the fact that much of America views us as insular, intolerant and ignorant. We blithely, frequently and willingly affirm these sentiments. Many of us seem to be stuck in the past as steadfastly as fossils are fixed in sediment. This must change.
” … when merit is not defined, it becomes whatever those in power declare it to be at any given moment.”
I know that some people, including our governor and our attorney general, will object by stating that contracts should be awarded based on “merit.” There are at least two problems with that argument. One is that they refuse to define what “merit” is. And when merit is not defined, it becomes whatever those in power declare it to be at any given moment.
The second problem is that people of color nearly always are deemed to lack “merit” (whatever that means). This outcome will always occur when people in power assume, ex hypothesi, that we are unqualified. The prophecy of “unqualified” Black people is self-fulfilling and syllogistic: We are inherently unqualified, so we weren’t selected.
I hasten to add that while the target is 8% for some state contracts awarded, the actual number awarded to our businesses tends to be closer to 5%. Thus, any person of goodwill must ask in good faith why 95% of government business is not enough for white Hoosiers?
I ended the column that I referenced above as follows. I could not think of a better way to end this one, so I will repeat what I wrote then:
“The fact is that anti-Black discrimination is so entrenched economically and psychologically that efforts at equality look like ‘discrimination’ to those who have always benefitted from inequality. Mr. Rokita ingenuously suggested that women and people of color merely need to show up to be awarded lucrative contracts, irrespective of their qualifications.
That is far from the case. The current target for minority-owned businesses to receive contracts from the State is roughly 8%. Yet, such businesses only receive roughly 5% of such contracts. Thus, logically speaking, the only way to be sure that ‘Caucasian people’ are not being harmed is for them to receive 100% of the contracts.
Is that where we are?”
The State of Indiana responded to my question. Its answer is “yes.”
Contact community leader Larry Smith at larry@leaf-llc.com.
