Seattle: Lynnwood man tried to use a home DNA test to qualify as a minority business owner. He was denied — now he’s suing.
19th September 2018
State and federal programs aim to ensure minority-owned businesses can compete for government contracts after generations of institutional discrimination. A Lynnwood man long identified as white is using DNA ethnicity estimates to claim minority status.
Whenever there is a government program or benefit, people will crawl out of the woodwork and try to game the system.
Yet some who qualified for the program acknowledged they had never been disenfranchised. A Yakima man who qualified for both the state and federal programs said he is about 6 percent African American, looks Caucasian and has never encountered discrimination. Since 2014, the program has helped him win millions of dollars in contracts.