In 1998, we had a crisis in black access to computers and the internet. Writing for The Progressive, Frederick McKissack said, “The gulf between technological haves and have-nots is the difference between living the good life and surviving in what some technologists and social critics term a ‘cyberghetto.’”
Since then we have made great progress in minority access to computers and the internet. The percentage of African Americans owning a computer nearly doubled from 1998 to 2005. The percentage of African Americans using the internet in 2008 was 43 points higher than the percentage who owned a computer in 1998. Computers and internet access have become pervasive, as internet access is now available on phones.
To what do we owe this great increase in internet and technology access?
McKissiack quoted Jon Katz in his article saying, “We don’t want to spend the money to avoid this problem.” Bill Clinton was quoted in his 1996 State of the Union address as arguing for more spending on computers in school.
There were in fact modest initiatives to increase access to computers in school, but there was no large scale government program to increase minority ownership of computers through government spending.
The main program that has helped increase ownership of computers and smart phones (and helped create smart phones in the first place) was capitalism. Since Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and others have been competing to fill their pockets with cash and the pockets of their shareholders, they have created better technology at lower prices and brought access to millions of Americans.
In 1998, according to McKissack’s article “Cyberghetto: Blacks Are Falling Through the Net,” just fifteen percent of African American households owned a computer. In 2005, 45 percent of African Americans reported using a computer at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Americans with internet access increased from 44 percent to 77 percent with increases for each demographic.
While we have made great progress, we still have a ways to go to bring access to these technologies to the broadest possible audience. To accomplish this goal, we must make a renewed push to innovate and create new and better products through capitalism.
