America Just Took the Ball and Went Home
(BALTIMORE – October 14, 2025) – As I read numerous articles on the recent Trump Administration ruling to remove Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) opportunities from the books, my thoughts go far beyond the obvious women-owned and minority-owned businesses that are most affected.
My thoughts are on the Black women who nursed white babies with their own breast milk. I think of Chevy pickup trucks with Confederate flags in the rear window. I’m thinking about the kid who brought his basketball to the court, but he took his ball and went home when he couldn’t get his way.
To the white males in America who are doing what they feel is necessary to cut Black businesses out of opportunity — I’m at a loss for words.
A History of Moving the Goalposts
We’ve seen this before. In City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Richmond’s minority business set-aside program as unconstitutional. Richmond, a city with over 50% Black residents, had tried to address the fact that only 0.67% of its prime construction contracts went to minority businesses. But the Court claimed Richmond hadn’t shown a “compelling interest” for race-based contracting goals.
In other words, even when the evidence showed systemic exclusion, the Court told Black business owners: “Sorry, that’s not enough proof.”
Now, decades later, history repeats itself.
On September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an Interim Final Rule that effectively guts the DBE program — removing race and gender as criteria for participation. All previously certified DBEs must now “recertify” and prove individual disadvantage through lengthy personal narratives and financial disclosures.
Maryland and Virginia have already set DBE goals to zero percent on federally eligible contracts. Until recertification happens, minority participation won’t even be counted.
This is more than bureaucracy. This is a reset of forty years of progress.
The Irony of White Grievance
Even with every advantage possible, it’s amazing how some white males still find time to whine about a “minority” getting a dollar.
It’s primitive thinking — and in a capitalist country, it’s downright irrational. The Japanese dominate the U.S. auto market with at least three top-selling brands, yet instead of innovating, too many Americans are busy fighting their neighbors over who gets a piece of the pie.
As a businessman of 23 years, I know this much: you can’t build your business while minding someone else’s.
If a white contractor spends his time suing to block minority set-asides because a Black company “got the job,” maybe he should rethink his business model. If your business only survives when someone else is excluded, maybe it wasn’t built to last.
God doesn’t bless mess.
A Betrayal of Sacrifice
What absolutely sickens me is that my father, my uncles, and countless other Black men went to war for this country — fighting side-by-side with white soldiers, often saving their lives.
And yet, here we are, still fighting to prove that we deserve to eat at the same economic table.
America’s obsession with race will be its undoing. There is nothing worse than an ungrateful nation. Who, in their right mind, would work to stop another man from feeding his family?
The Legacy of Black Wall Street
That’s why we created the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards — to honor Black entrepreneurs who build despite the odds.
You see, I can have liberal thoughts and conservative thoughts, but one thing remains true: when we built thriving, self-sustaining communities — like Tulsa’s Greenwood District in 1921 — they bombed them and burned them down.
When we succeed, we’re resented. When we struggle, we’re ignored.
This latest attack on DBE programs is just another chapter in that same story.
Conclusion: God Don’t Bless Mess
Racists are so busy being hateful that they miss their blessings.
Black business owners have never asked for handouts — just fair access. But fairness in America has always been conditional.
So as the government “resets” the DBE program, let’s remember: this isn’t just about contracts or paperwork. It’s about the same fight our ancestors faced — the right to compete, the right to build, and the right to thrive.
And one thing I know for sure:
God doesn’t bless mess.
