How Traditional Black Media Can Support Tech Aspirations

I wasn't necessarily in love with my major department at my undergraduate institution, though I had some fairly decent professors.
Then came the semester I took Blacks in Film as an elective. I then took African-American Studies, and then a summer semester Harlem Renaissance course at a local community college.
Each of those professors brought a combination of passion and academic rigor to the courses that I honestly had not seen in many of my other my classes.
What was different? Aside from one high school teacher, this was the first time that I was gifted academic knowledge by someone who reflected my cultural background and experience.
This view probably mirrors many other former and current Black learners, even with caring white teachers. However, a May 2011 YourBlackWorld.com study reports that 42% of all African-Americans at predominantly white college campuses never had a single black professor during four years of college. Seventy-four percent of the same students had only one black professor in a field outside of African-American studies.
On a subconscious level, this was in part why chose a career in academia, why I became a 'Blackademic.'
These results indicate a phenomenon far beyond not having enough black faculty on campuses across the U.S. It means that there are too few examples for black students to model themselves after and that many don't see the option.
Dr. John Barker, assistant provost for undergraduate education at the University of Miami, gives a prime example. When he speaks to new groups of mostly minority students, he has them do a visualization exercise, in which students picture a faculty member and then give a description. "Nine out of 10 picture one who is white," says Barker.
With the American economy in its current state of disrepair, graduate school applications have spiked as job options have become scarce. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, minorities in U.S. graduate schools rose from 28.3 percent of first-time domestic enrollment in 2008 to 29.1 percent in 2009. Women accounted for about 71 percent of black U.S. students who enrolled in graduate schools for the first time in 2009. These numbers could mean that eventually, more black students will consider academic careers. But what exactly does it mean to be young and black in the academy, or a Blackademic, in terms of challenges and the current economy?


As a black man who believes in supporting Black-owned businesses I have patronized all forms of traditional Black media most of my adult life to include networks such as BET and TVOne, print magazines such as Ebony and Essence, as well as local, national, and satellite radio. With the exception of XM Radio’s The Mario Armstrong Show, which focuses on helping folks to embrace a digital lifestyle, and Black Enterprise magazine there is scant mention of the of technology and its importance in the lives of African Americans.
I do not believe in complaining about a problem, I believe in taking action. I wrote to newspapers as well as magazines and suggested that space be allocated to provide this critical information to the black community. I offered to provide the information free of charge as a service to the community and I made the case that at this point in our history, making sure our people embrace technology as we move forward in the 21st century is CRUCIAL to our survival – of this, there is no doubt.
Most of the organizations that I wrote simply did not respond. A few others responded with a “thanks, but no thanks”, and a couple offered me the opportunity to bridge the gap. This is simply not good enough. What is the reason for the resistance? How do we expect our young people to view technology as important if we are not discussing it in our media? Why do most of these outlets not consider the topic of technology just as important as finance, spirituality, or health?
Most often when there is a mention of technology in Black media it is coming from a consumer perspective. National publications may make mention of a great new iPhone app that you can purchase, but there is no mention of the 2 sisters at Spelman College who won the AT&T sponsored mobile application development competition or that Morehouse College hosted a National Business Plan competition that was focused on students submitting smart phone application ideas. And even when they were mentioned in a few outlets, there is not another such story for weeks or months. We need a steady diet.
Those 2 sisters and the young men who participated in the competition at Morehouse could provide wonderful role models for our youth. We have the role models, what is lacking is the distribution of this information to our communities. What is lacking is the coverage of these technology-centric stories. Who better to fill this void than our beloved traditional black media.