Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America | Black Agenda Report

Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America

Bill Quigley

15 Apr 2009

🖨️ Print Article

by InternetForEveryone.org

Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and other telco giants have spent mad public relations money spreading the myth that the digital divide is a thing of the past. Some heedless and lazy black bloggers have helped spread this lie, but it's still a lie. Redlining of and denial of service to poor and minority communities has been a core feature of the business models of the cable industry since its start decades ago, and of the phone companies for more than a century. But in the 21st century, cheap, available broadband internet is as necessary to economic development as paved streets and roads. Communities without it will become or remain economic, educational, business and social backwaters.

See, hear and read more stories about the digital divide and what it costs communities, families and lives....

America Offline

InternetforEveryone.org is working to shed light on the millions of Americans who live without regular Internet access or lack the training or equipment to get online. A small reporting team is traveling to communities across the country to tell people's stories. Free Press' Megan Tady interviewed residents of Los Angeles, Calif., and Washington, D.C. On this site, you can follow our trek and get an up-close view of America’s urban digital divide

Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America

A report on life without the Internet in urban Americ. Five stories, each with video. »

The web site of Internet For Everyone contains much more information, and is a frequently updated source of information on the campaign to bring high speed broadband to all our communities. Do check it out. If you have a web site or blog, link to it at http://www.internetforeveryone.org/.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Community Control of Police in Chicago
09 Dec 2022
Frank Chapman is Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. That organization has led the fight for community control of the police, with the creation of the…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Charges Dismissed Against Tracy McCarter
09 Dec 2022
In the September 23, 2022 segment of Black Agenda Radio we discussed the case of Tracy McCarter. The New York City nurse was charged with murder as she attempted to defend herself from her violent…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Hakeem Jeffries and the Railroad Workers
07 Dec 2022
A new Black "first" came along at the same moment that the Democratic Party showed itself to be a servant of the ruling classes. Hakeem Jeffries is a very willing tool of powerful people. There is no…
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Labor, Neoliberalism, and the 2004 Coup in Haiti, Jeb Sprague, 2008
07 Dec 2022
What role did labor play in the 2004 coup in Haiti? A 2008 essay illuminates the convergence of labor politics, neoliberal policy, and imperial malfeasance.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Unbelievable
07 Dec 2022
Unbelievable