READING PASSGAES 63
Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented
opportunities—as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one
of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty
establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts
that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by
law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find
minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government.
Indeed, some...