Testimony: Hearing on “Promoting Opportunity: The Need for Targeted Federal Business Programs to Address Ongoing Racial Discrimination”

Government programs like the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, and those provided by the Minority Business Development Agency (“MBDA”), are essential for remedying past discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities, including Asian Americans, helping the American economy thrive, and reinforcing our democracy. These programs ensure that minority-owned small businesses are able to survive and thrive, benefitting not only the businesses themselves but the communities they serve and the nation as a whole. Only through the inclusion of all sectors of our economy and all segments of the populace can the American economy and democracy flourish.

Unfortunately, like many other racial minorities in the United States, Asian Americans have faced centuries of explicit, government-sponsored discrimination, including racist immigration policies, restrictions on land ownership, efforts to eradicate Asian American small businesses, incarceration of Japanese Americans, and exclusion from government programs. That discrimination has interfered with economic opportunity, excluding Asian Americans from both equal dignity and status in American democracy and from equal participation in the economic life of the nation, to the detriment of all.

The legacy of past discrimination remains with us today in a multitude of forms, including unequal opportunities in the creation of businesses and greater difficulty in maintaining those businesses. Moreover, Asian Americans continue to face explicit government-sponsored discrimination and unequal opportunities to participate in government programs.

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