Black owned businesses right now make up only a tiny fraction of New Jersey's business community, and that's just not good enough for a group of government and business leaders who gathered today at McCarter and English, a Newark based law firm.

As senior political correspondent David Kruse tells us.

They talked about ways to elevate black and women owned businesses in the state, even as D-I programs are under fire.

In a perfect world, conference rooms like this one that Newark based law firm McCarter and English would be the norm.

People of varying backgrounds, races, ethnicity and income levels sitting together and discussing ways to come together on the difficult issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Buzzwords that have now come to represent to some, the things that divide us.

We're talking about, especially in Jersey, people look at New Jersey differently in just 45% of the demographic in New Jersey identified as nonwhite.

45% say to people of color.

That's a huge number.

Who was, I say, a minority?

That puts that in a whole different perspective.

But a couple of years we'll be a majority minority state.

That means that ability to be identified as a mixed race, right?

So this whole concept of diversity and equity looks different when you start looking at it from that lens.

What it begins to look like is people who are cutting off their nose to spite their face.

This so-called fireside chat, sponsored by the law firm, the Legislative Black Caucus and others, was a Black History Month event intended to explore the way things are, but also how they could be and how to get there.

Panelists included Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Tai Cooper of the state's Economic Development Authority, and caucus chair Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, who highlighted the need for the state to address disparities in procurement.

0.01%.

0.01%.

Atrocious.

She talked about the disparity study that found black and brown and women and veteran owned businesses were getting not even a slice of a slice of the pie of contracts with the state.

She noted that the study has languished without much action, and even a package of bills intended to put the study's recommendation into action sits there, despite support from the governor.

We're talking about over 20 years of identifying and getting a study complete study was completed in 2020, which was the pandemic.

It is now 2025.

So time is not our friend.

We're on another legislative cycle.

I will say this no matter whether you call it Dei, affirmative action, whatever it wants to be labeled, all of our businesses are better when we're inclusive, that we're pushing the fight against the stupid.

It's annoying.

It's better than nothing but toxic racism.

And it's one of those things that I think you have to call out when we also talk about corporations standing up, but also be standing behind as well.

Not surprisingly, panelists were unable to solve all the problems of the state or country at one lunch session.

But the conversation, the gathering of people different in background but similar in purpose was a positive step.

I think programs like like the one you're having is important, particularly in this time period where people are beginning to feel allergic to these kinds of events.

But like, you know, I was telling people they can't celebrate like the canes or that we're still talking about black issues.

In in McClaren English.

I appreciate it, honestly, that we're doing this, and it's just incredibly important.

And in today's political and cultural environment, where differences are seen as barriers, an acknowledgment of the actual opportunities that those differences represent was worth the effort.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

So time is not our friend.

We're on another legislative cycle.

I will say this no matter whether you call it Dei, affirmative action, whatever it wants to be labeled.

All of our businesses are better when we're inclusive.

That a push in the fight against us?

Stupid.

It's annoying.

It's better than nothing but toxic racism and it's also one of the things that we have to call out when we also talk about corporations standing up, but also me standing behind the as well.

Not surprisingly, panelists were unable to solve all the problems of the state or country at one lunch session.

But the conversation, the gathering of people different in background but similar in purpose was a positive step.

I think programs like like the one you're having is important, particularly in this time period.

The people who are beginning to feel allergic to these kinds of events.

But like, you know, I was telling people they can't celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. That we're still talking about black issues, in immigrant English.

I appreciate it, honestly, that we're doing this.

And it's just incredibly important that in today's political and cultural environment, where differences are seen as barriers, an acknowledgment of the actual opportunities that those differences represent was worth the effort.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.