5A
OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post
February 1, 1996
Computers hold key to black empowerment
By Don Rojas
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Information age skills key
to advancement as a race
Daily we are told by an
array of pundits and acade
mics that American society
and, indeed, the whole world
is about to enter the
Information Age, that we
stand on the threshold of the
Digital Era, that human civi
lization will soon experience a
revolution more significant
and transforming than the
great Industrial Revolution of
the mid-19th century and that
the engine driving us towards
this new high-tech revolution
is the personal computer.
Bill Gates, one of the richest
men in the world, has made
his billions in less than 20
years by designing and mar
keting the central operating
system for most of the world's
personal computers. He has
just written a book prophesiz-
ing society's coming journey
down the Information
Superhighway, predicting in it
that he and his company,
Microsoft, will continue to
play a pivotal role in the
unfolding information revolu
tion. To be sure, Gates has no
intention of relinquishing his
monopoly grip on the software
industry. Undoubtedly, he will
make himself a few more bil
lions in the years to come.
Indeed, the information rev
olution is spawning billion
aires and millionaires almost
on a daily basis. In Gates' $50
billion company alone, more
than 2,000 Microsoft execu
tives have become millionaires
in the last 10 years.
But few are people of color,
and fewer still of African
ancestry. The stark reality is
that black entrepreneurship
plays little or no role in
today's burgeoning hi-tech
industries.
The situation is even more
disturbing when one looks at
the "haves" and the "have-
nots" of the computer age.
A recent study by the
London-based Panes Institute
concludes that a new form of
poverty -"information pover
ty" - threatens the Third
World because the Internet is
concentrated in a handful of
rich countries. Seventy per
cent of computers linked to
the Internet are in the United
States, while fewer than 10
Afiican countries are connect
ed. Poor countries, because of
the high costs of computer
equipment and low literacy
rates, are already being left
behind on the instant access
to vast stores of information
the Internet can provide. A
modem - the equipment that
connects a computer to the
Internet through the tele
phone network — costs around
four times more in India than
in America. A new computer
would represent around six
months of the unemployment
benefits paid to a jobless
Briton or several years worth
of wages for an underem
ployed Indonesian.
A recent Internet Society
survey found that there are
about 3.5 million "host" com
puters hooked up to the
Internet in the United States
and just over 500,000 in
Western Europe. By contrast,
Africa has just 28,000 "hosts"
(the vast majority of these are
in South Africa), Central
America and South America
16,000 and the Middle East
13,800.
The situation in America
among whites and people of
color is not much better.
"Information poverty” has
been established in familiar
racial lines. A recent U.S.
Commerce Department study
on American home computer
ownership found about 30 per
cent of white households own
Kozo 1 reminds us about children
Marian
Wright
Edelman
Jonathan Kozol is a gentle,
kind man whose voice breaks
with emotion when he speaks
of the injustices heaped on the
children and families in the
Mott Haven section of the
be built, successfully resisted
the construction because of
concern over feared cancer
risks to their children.
All but seven of the 800 chil
dren who attend the local ele
mentary school qualify for free
lunches. And, according to the
principal, five of those seven
get reduced-price lunches,
because they are classified
only as "poor," not "destitute."
Crack cocaine addiction and
South Bronx,
one of the poor
est, deadliest
neighborhoods
in America.
"Depression is
common among
children in Mott
Haven. Many
cry a great deal
but cannot
explain exactly
why," Jonathan
says in his extraordinary new
book, “Amazing Grace: The
Lives of Children and the
Conscience of a Nation.”
It's no wonder.
The air around Mott Haven
is filled with the ever-present
foulness of a medical waste
incinerator, constructed there
against the objections of the
local parents. Those parents
on the wealthier East Side of
Manhattan, where the incin
erator was first scheduled to
intravenous use of heroin are
rampant. Nearly 4,000 heroin
users, many of whom are HIV-
infected, live there. A quarter
of the Mott Haven women who
are tested in obstetric wards
are HIV-positive, and virtual
ly every child in the neighbor
hood knows somebody who is
dying or already has died from
AIDS.
The homicide rate is high
enough to earn Mott Haven
the distinction by the New
York Times as "the deadliest
blocks" in "the deadliest
precinct" of New York.
"The houses in which these
children live, two-thirds of
which are owned by the City of
New York, are often as squalid
as the houses of the poorest
children I have visited in rural
Mississippi, but there is none
of the greenness and healing
sweetness of the Mississippi
countryside outside their win
dows, which are
often barred and
bolted as protection
against thieves,”
Jonathan writes.
"Some of these hous
es are freezing in
the winter. In dan
gerously cold weath
er, the city some
times distributes
electric blankets
and space heaters to
its tenants. In emergency con
ditions, if space heaters can't
be used, because substandard
wiring is overloaded, the cityis
practice is to pass out sleeping
bags.
"In humid summer weather,"
Kozol continues, "roaches
crawl on virtually every sur
face of the houses in which
many of the children live. Rats
emerge from holes in bedroom
walls, terrorizing infants in
their cribs. In the streets out
side, the restlessness and
anger that are present in all
seasons frequently intensify
under the stress of heat." In
writing about his experiences,
Jonathan has ripped the scab
off of one of America's fester
ing realities; that the world's
richest, most advanced nation
is allowing a good part of its
hope for the future to waste
away in rotting, rat-infested,
war-torn communities.
"These beautiful children
haven't yet figured out that
their country despises them,"
Kozol told the Black
Community Crusade for
Children Working Committee
recently at the former Alex
Haley farm.
Right now, as our Congress
and President ponder whether
to take away billions of pre
cious dollars from our neediest
and most destitute children in
order to give tax breaks to
wealthy individuals and cor
porations, the question for
each of us is this: "What kind
of America do we want for our
children?"
South Carolina native
MARIAN WRIGHT
EDELMAN is president of the
Children's Defense Fund, and
a leader of the Black
Community Crusade for
Children.
Experience God for yourself
By Junious R. Stanton
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
I overheard a worker talking
about his mother who was
very ill battling cancer. I
asked him how she was doing.
He said she was improving,
but a few weeks ago they did
n't think she was going to
make it. He shared how he
was traumatized to see her
like that. But he said he felt
so blessed to have both of his
parents alive during his child
hood and adult life, he didn't
think he had the right to pray
for his mother to get better.
He said when she rallied and
improved, his father and sib
lings were elated, giving
thanks for their answered
prayers. He said he just didn't
think he was worthy to ask for
additional blessing.
How sad, this young man (he
is 35) didn't feel God was gra
cious or accommodating
enough to call upon in his
hour of despair. My response
to him was if you are suffering
from thirst, you wouldn't go to
a fountain with a thimble you
go with a bucket. There is no
quota on blessings or mira
cles.
After I left work I thought
about his situation. 'We really
have a warped view of God
and ourselves. Many people,
like my co-worker, view God
as a stingy, tight fisted old
geezer who doles out blessings
like weekly allowances.
Personally I take the opposite
view. My experience is that
God is good, kind, loving and
giving all the time, no matter
what.
Far be it from me
to get preachy, but
we need to know on
a very rudimentary
level that there is a
power greater than
ourselves that is
ready, willing and
able to grant our
heart's desires, that
nothing is too good
to be true. This
power is not far off
It is closer than your
very skin. It resides
in all of us. It is the
power some call the
Spirit
I thought about the words of
Joshua Ben Joseph who said,
"which of you whose child
asks for bread will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish
will give him a serpent? If you
who think and do evil know
how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more
Holy
shall your heavenly father
who is altogether good give
good things to them that ask
him?"
It seems pretty clear to me
to ask for what you want. The
truly sad part is there are so
many people who have a nega
tive concept of God. They see
him as the Big Zapper in the
sky - the man upstairs who
loves to punish and chastise.
They have brought
into the concept of a
God propagated by
unenlightened peo
ple. Their God has
favorites, is mean,
" vindictive, ruthless
and impossible to
please. I can see why
a person would be
hesitant asking any
thing from a God like
that!
The priests of old
devised theologies
and images of God to
frighten the people into doing
what they wanted, as a means
of manipulating them. We still
have this legacy today in most
religions. If you go to different
churches or try different reli
gions, you'll hear different
ideas about God even from
preachers — sometimes even in
the same denomination. It's
sort of like the story of the
three blind men and the ele
phant. Each man described
the elephant differently
because they examined and
touched a different part of the
animal. Speaking of blindness,
we know what happens when
the blind lead the blind?
Perhaps your ideas about God
need revising. Wherever you
are spiritually, your ideas
about God are based on that
level of understanding. If you
think God is mean, everything
you think, say or do will
reflect this concept. If you
believe in a god that is good
and loving, this is how you
will interpret your life's expe
riences.
I say all of this to simply
say this; experience God for
yourself. Don't be content to
take someone else's word for
it. Don't depend on second
hand notions or some religious
functionary's ideas for your
understanding. Ask, call, beg,
plead, cry out, on your own.
Discover for yourself whether
or not He or She will answer
your prayers, "...before they
call I will answer and while
they are yet speaking I will
hear."
Try it for yourself. )
JUNIOUS R. STANTON is
a syndicated columnist in
Washington, D.C.
computers, compared to 12
percent of Latino households
and 11 percent of African
American households. Out of
the African American percent
age, less than 10 percent are
even connected to the
Internet.
In my mind, this situation is
just another indication of the
racial inequities in both
income and wealth that con
tinue to bedevil American
society.
What can we do about all of
this? Some ideas:
• Encourage black investors
to immediately turn their
attention to the new techno
logical world, and find small
black companies and individu
als who are on top of what is
happening. If we use the same
energy and vision we used to
establish entertainment com
panies during the past 10
years, this should not be prob
lematic.
• Pool our collective
resources in order to make
sure every youth center,
church, etc., in our communi
ties has at least one Internet
hookup. Then, we must make
the commitment to teach our
selves and our children about
the Internet. This way, they
will not suffer from "informa
tion poverty."
• Use the Internet to create
on-line publications, "cyber
space universities," and other
forums.
These are just a few of the
things we can do to empower
ourselves in the New Media
Age. We should not enter it,
and the next century, with old
problems. Now more than
ever, the solutions to our col
lective woes are in our hands,
not in the minds of our "lead
ers." Pan-African unity and
empowerment must begin in
cyberspace.
Computer terminals of the
world, unite! We have nothing
to lose but our ignorance and
sense of powerlessness.
DON ROJAS, an interna
tionally known advocacy jour
nalist, is president of
Communicationsfor a New
Tomorrow, a multi-media
company based in the
Baltimore area.
Letters to the Editor
McColl leadership outstanding
The writer is a vice president at the Charlotte Chamber to Hugh
McColl, chief executive officer at Charlotte-based NationsBank.
I read with interest the announcement that you were to be hon
ored by the MLK Center in Atlanta for promoting the ideals
championed by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A simple
"Well done my ftiend" is not sufficient praise for your accomplish
ments during the past eight years.
You have put your faith and values to work.on a scale worthy of
national recognition. The "Salute to Greatness" award from the
King Center is, perhaps, the best way to acknowledge that
Charlotte does not have a cultural institution of their stature
and, since it is your adopted home, we may be less appreciative
than everyone else. However, by all measures, you personify
Charlotte's 33-year-oId vision for itself. Hopefully, we will one
day see you recognized as our "world citizen."
I marvel at your unparalleled business accomplishments but
am more impressed that your civic leadership has kept pace with
them. Relationships with the NAACP and the National Urban
League, extremely ambitious lending visions, concern for transit
riders in Charlotte, ventures which elevate African American
businessmen and professionals and collaboration with the
Richardsons which has established new diversity benchmarks for
professional sports franchises are all very laudatory. Taken
together with your leadership in the arts and center city develop
ment, they elevate you above the rest of your contemporary busi
ness peers.
Your growth and leadership are nothing short of outstanding.
If I can be of any assistance whatsoever as you focus on your
vision for Charlotte, please let me know; I would consider it an
honor to collaborate with you.
-Lawrence J. Toliver
Charlotte
Why not honor OJ’s lawyer?
The writer is president of the Durham Chapter of the NAACP. .
I find it extremely interesting that a decision to present
Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. with the key to the city of
Durham has created questions (in the media) which may have
never been raised before (regarding his honor). Furthermore, I
resent and reject the idea which implies attorney Johnnie L.
Cochran Jr. is suppose to be a “controversial figure” who is unde
serving of a key coming from the city of Durham!
Obviously, Councilman Clement, who for decades has served as
a city representative of Durham, sees why brother Cochran
deserves the key to our city; obviously Durham’s distinguished
brothers of the Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity
see why brother Cochran is deserving of the city’s key; obviously,
the approximately 1,000 Durham citizens who supported the
event (where Cochran spoke) see why brother Cochran is deserv
ing of the key to the city; obviously as a Durham citizen, and one
who represents the Durham NAACP, I clearly see why brother
Cochran is deserving of Durham’s key to the city.
The answer is simple, as we would like to clarify whatever con
fusion mighty exist. The fact of the matter is, Johnnie L. Cochran
Jr. has proven he may be the most talented attorney in the world.
Through the success he has exemplified as an attorney, he is an
outstanding gentleman and role model for the world (not just
Durham). Furthermore his accomplishments unquestionably and
vastly exceed Durham’s current and past criteria for receiving
the city’s key! So without question, he deserved Durham’s key,
our prayers, support and anything else we could possibly give
him, which would make him even more visible to the multitude of
black men who are left without justice and without hope.
As we seek “righteousness,” we should expect to be labeled as
“controversial” and ultimately frowned upon. So was Moses; so
was Malcolm; so was Martin; so was Mandela; so was Christ. If
attorney Cochran is a so-called “controversial figure,” perhaps
more of us should strive to become “controversial” in this “hell-
bound” society!
- Curtis Gatewood
Durham
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Send your comments to The Charlotte Post, P O. Box
30144, Charlotte, N.C. 28230 or fax (704) 342-2160.
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