BOSTON (AP) — Several Black and Latino organizations filed a federal discrimination complaint against Boston on Wednesday alleging the city's contracting system discriminates against minority-owned businesses.
The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Latino Network, and Amplify Latinx filed the complaint with the Department of Justice and Department of Transportation in response to a city study that found that from 2014 to 2019 only 1.2% of its nearly $2.2 billion worth of public contacts went to Black- and Latino-owned businesses.
“The stark racial disparities — over which the city has direct control — demonstrate deliberate and intentional discrimination against Black- and Latinx-owned businesses on the part of the city,” the organizations said in a statement.
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A spokesperson for Mayor Marty Walsh, who has been tapped to be President Joe Biden's labor secretary, said the city had not seen the complaint so they could not comment.
Walsh is expected to introduce measures to send more city contracts to businesses owned by people of color.
The complaint seeks “immediate federal intervention and oversight to compel the city to enact race-conscious measures to break down the discriminatory barriers to equitable contracting opportunities,” as well as a “community-driven remediation process.”
