Ohio think tank to Cleveland: Stop the unconstitutional race-based practices

A Columbus-based think tank demanded that the city of Cleveland end many of its racist, anti-white programs and requirements.

In a letter, the Buckeye Institute told Cleveland that its programs and practices violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, adding that if the city doesn’t eliminate the programs and requirements that discriminate against white people, the think tank will sue.

“It has now been more than a year since the city of Cleveland publicly recognized that it must abandon its unconstitutional race-based programs,” David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute, wrote in the letter. “Failure to end these discriminatory programs leaves the city open to legal action, and The Buckeye Institute stands ready to assist any individual or business denied access to any contracting opportunities based on race.”

In 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the 1976 pro-affirmative action requirement, Cleveland.com reported.

The anti-white rules and requirements, also known as the Minority Business Enterprise, should be completely abandoned, according to the think tank, by canceling all contracts, informing developers that Cleveland won’t be enforcing the racist rules, and repealing city ordinances that allegedly require the discrimination of white people.

In its press release, The Buckeye Institute wrote that what they are doing is “in accordance with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions,” adding that it reaffirms that if an individual of any race is “not accorded the same protection, then [a program] is not equal.”

It wasn’t the first time that the think tank was on the side of people oppressed on the racial grounds, filing an amicus brief last year in a case in Washington state involving a city employee, Joshua Diermert, who filed a lawsuit, in which he alleged that the local government’s “racial equity” policies create a hostile workplace.

“While government interventions—from affirmative action to DEI training—may spring from a desire to bring about a more equitable society, they suffer from the same noxious segregation statute at question in Plessy v. Ferguson. They sort Americans by race,” Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute, said.

The Institute argued that the initiatives argued that the local initiatives violate the U.S. Constitution and the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, adding that it wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to consider a dissent Justice John Marshall Harlan filed in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, as well as consider Harlan’s view of the 14th Amendment.

“By recognizing the wisdom in Justice Harlan’s Plessy dissent, this court can move us towards the color-blind Constitution and the America that Harlan envisioned.”

The pushback from the think tank came after the national backlash against the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to Cleveland.com. In Ohio, that includes Senate Bill 1, which prohibited DEI initiatives at the state’s public colleges and universities, as well as at private higher education institutions that receive taxpayer money.

Lawmakers in the state Senate are considering another bill, Senate Bill 113, which would also ban DEI initiatives in Ohio’s public schools. The bill drew backlash from 80 people representing different organizations, many of which are connected to education in the state.