I personally love technology and using it to its full potential to enhance my life. Right now, the black community as a whole is in an innovative state where technology is being used extensively to improve our lives. From communication to economic empowerment, the “Black Technology Renaissance” is clearly in full swing as our people continue to harness the full potential of technology.
Throughout this post, I will highlight a few examples of the new era in the black community that I’m coining the “Black Technology Renaissance.” First, let’s start with the focus on diversity in Silicon Valley. Over the past couple of years, large companies like Facebook and Twitter have been publishing diversity information about the makeup of their workforces. The numbers have not been diverse at all, sparking leaders such as Rev Jesse Jackson to begin programs to get more blacks into high level positions within these companies. It is very important for these companies with diverse users to also be diverse in areas such as engineering and marketing. That’s the only way they will continue to grow and stay relevant. Also, along the lines of creating diversity within the technology workforce, there has also been a focus on increasing STEM education for minorities. One argument that some companies attempt to make is that there is a shortage of qualified blacks. I believe there is some truth in that statement but still think it’s an easy cop out. Either way, young students need be introduced to technology at an early age so that they can grow their interest and pursue degrees in technology. My experience in college pursuing a Computer Engineering degree at Georgia Tech reflected the lack of diversity that we see at these tech companies so it is evident we need to get to students earlier to get them in the technology pipeline.
The second area of the “Black Technology Renaissance” I’d like to discuss is the emergence of a category of apps I’m calling the Black Wall St Apps. These apps including I Am Black Business look to improve our community by making it easy to spend our black dollars with black owned companies and companies that support our community. Apps range from black owned business directories to retail stores. Some examples are below:
The last item I’ll discuss from the”Black Technology Renaissance” is communication and social justice. Movements such as Black Lives Matters take advantage of social media for communication in ways that would make some marketing companies jealous. I’ve also seen some apps geared toward educating users on their rights (especially during police stops). Some of these apps even allow users to record their encounters and save the video to the cloud where it cannot be deleted or altered.
In this blog post, I’ve provided a few examples of the “Black Technology Renaissance.” These examples show how the black community is and will take advantage of technology to improve our community. Technology is something very close to my heart. I’d love to see our community continue to make investments into technology. Our community has always been creators and thinkers. Technology is the new area where innovation must and will happen.