Black Like Me? The Missing Faces in Technology and Innovation

The beautiful thing about the Internet is that it is impervious to Affirmative Action, EEOC compliance and the Fair Housing Act. It could care less about who you love, where you live, and how many degrees you possess. The World Wide Web is the great equalizer that is not interested in race, gender or economic status. Anyone can be a landowner of this prime real estate just like the creators of Twitter whose property reportedly has a one billion dollar valuation.

As we inch closer to Web 3.0, the question of ownership will be directly tied to who has access to the necessary tools to build on the "land." And if memory serves me correctly, the one who owns the land is the one who holds the power.

So why is it that I see the same names and faces -- none of which look like mine -- positioned as thought leaders and innovators in Web 2.0? Why do I see the same faces as representative of the power in technology?

I've been informed on more than one occasion that we're hard to find.

Last I heard there is no secret society or cloistered community of black, brown, yellow or red people who have prospered in the technology space. They are not on the low or in hiding. And in this day and age, where I can locate the little girl who sat beside me in second grade by doing a simple Google search, it makes no sense for people to question the existence of any tech, Web property owners and thought leaders qualified to participate in The Big Picture conversations regarding the technological growth of the Internet.

TechCrunch50 managed to find a rapper who has had some success in record sales due to his camp's use of social media. Still, the rapper is not an expert in social or new media, let alone technology beyond its use for marketing his personal brand. The L.A. Times' Dan Frost noted a lack of participation of women at TechCrunch50, but inherent in that observation would be the absence of other minorities.

I wish this were only a national issue but it is not; it is global. The British online publication T3 mentioned Barack Obama as the only influential African American in technology on their TECH100 list. True enough, the president has influenced our use and perspectives, but he isn't the only one. I am grateful, however, that Jason Chen and Brian Lam (Gizmodo) and Guy Kawasaki (my tech crush) were also on the list.

At any rate, there are many emerging thought leaders and Web developers of color -- globally.

In a village in Malawi, 20-year-old William Kamkwamba built two windmills to supply electricity for his family and support a crop irrigation system. His next project involves a windmill powerful enough to provide Internet access.

Serial start-up entrepreneur Clarence Wooten of Baltimore was an early Web developer whose tech savvy resulted in the sale of (for a reported 8 figures) a site he began on a what-if. The former high school basketball star nixed hoop dreams and embraced the American Dream of Web entrepreneurship. He hasn't looked back.

Jon Gosier, founder of Appfrica Labs in Uganda, hosted a Facebook Developers Garage in Kampala to bring resources to students and software developers interested in building applications for Facebook. The TED Fellow is more than a venture capitalist in Africa; he is making an impact on the economy by providing opportunities via the Web.

Angela Benton, publisher of Black Web 2.0, used her talent and gifts to help others build Web empires before launching the first and only website devoted to African Americans in technology and technology-related industries. And, Black Web 2.0 has some of the most incredible people on the site's advisory board such as The Advertising Research Foundation's Lynne d Johnson (formerly of Fast Company) and Michael Seibel, CEO of Justin.tv. Both were not only early adopters but also early influencers who paved the way for many more people of color in technology and in new media.

We're here. Now you know. And once you know, you're accountable.

BlackWeb20.com
AppfricaLabs.com
BlackDigerati.org
DarlaMack.com
Wayne Sutton
MarioArmstrong.com
ColorinTech.com

So the real question is where is the diversity of thought leadership in technology?

Technology is viewed as an incubator for innovation, but if the same people are always included in that incubator then they are recreating more of the same and reproducing themselves.

Until there is diversity represented in technology, there will be no true innovation in a space that is colorblind to only one thing -- money.

 

 

Follow Robin Caldwell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thejstandard

Comments

[LaurenColeman]

All I can say is thank you, Robin for bringing this to light. And now I think it's a question of momentum. I think this is more a question of visibility more than anything else. Why is it that the Clay Shirky's of the world and Pandora founders get so much visibility to then be heralded again and again. It seems they have a solid handle on press relations/PR firms that many of us need to get up on but also journalists could simply also be more open to pitches and unique angles. How can tech entrepreneurs develop better relationships with the media, consistently? I'd love to hear your thoughts/work with you and others on this. It needs to be a cool campaign-of-sorts!! www.punchmediagroup.net

[Courtney Crosslin]

This is a conversation often ‘tackled’ in my circle of techies – Black and White. Unanimously, all (Black and White) hold the belief that responsibility lies with the trailblaze­rs/influen­cers to educate, but interest must build within the community.

Generally - We (the Black community, parents and educators) push our children to get “straight A’s”, pursue traditional degrees and careers not leaving much room for creativity or innovation.

We can’t continue to believe that our children have an equal chance to compete for jobs or recognition without a decent understanding of technology. Many get home and have no Internet connection to apply what was learned at school. Worse yet, are those with access but spending countless amount of hours surfing the web for gossip, videos and other useless content.

We’re competing for economic space and recognition against individuals who have passports, travel the word, speak more than one language and are taught the art of networking at a very early age. And like it or not, it’s about ‘who you know.”

So yes, there is a lack of tech innovators and leaders that look like me. But we have to work within to increase our numbers and put ourselves out there. Your post, the work of those listed and discussion is vital in bringing light to the situation. My hope is that it encourages both sides to start asking tough questions and inspire us to take action.

Robin, you just may be the catalyst for a new movement!

[Ken Gibbs]

Great piece Robin! Think a big part of the issue is that the industry is not recognizing all forms of success in the space, especially when it comes to large indie publishers like theYBF or Allhiphop (how really different is either from a TMZ?). These are indie publishers who have done better than many of the traditional brands in their competitive set, and stand a chance to become the new household names in the next decade (The T3 list has bloggers & celeb gadget lovers). They may not develop new technologies, but they are applying them in ways that introduce them to the audience and grow brands.

[Lori Gama]

Robin, thank you for writing a "tell-it-l­ike-it-is" post. There are so many extremely talented people of color involved in the Web. Why aren’t we hearing more about them? I think it's going to start happening now that some of us are speaking out about it more. Don't let this be the last time you write about it. This is the Age of The Great Communicators and the world needs us to spread good ideas; to connect like-minded people; to turn thoughts into movements---that's how we change the world.

[MarioArmstrong]

Robin, this was an awesome post. Thankyou for being such an advocate! You really brought some of the core issues to light! It is unacceptable at this point in time to consistently see the same faces. There are sooo many other stories happening and sooo many other innovators, visionaries and thought-leaders out there! if we continue down this path I can see future generations becoming more discouraged because they can't identify with who is being continually propped up as "role models".

This is why we must participate and feel comfortable in bringing more exposure to those who are breaking thru barriers. I have seen first-hand the amount of "tech thirst" in young people many of whom actually want to pursue science and technology academics & careers but when they are consistently reminded of role-models who don't look like them or come from similar backgrounds, some of them tend to be discouraged quickly.

This is why the work that Angela Benton at http://blackweb20.com --- Michael Lang at http://www.blackdigerati.org/ --- Tyrone Taborn at http://www.ccgmedia.com/ is sooo needed. This is also why I continue to work tirelessly to educate, inspire and expose more youth to technology as "creators" not as just "consumers" through the Urban Video Game Academy and the travelling tech event show "STEM Rockstars" & Dream, Create, Go! http://www.MarioArmstrong.com/STEM

We have to take ownership of the issue and continue to push for excellence!

[Angela Benton]

This is an awesome post Robin!!!! :)

[llhargrove]

Very nice post, Robin. Something I've noticed is that the barrier in the US to being either an early adopter or participant at any level revolves around 3 issues: awareness, cultural norms, and funding.

The funding issue is a not always so easy to solve. True, funders like TED are out there but how many people of color know about TED (or any type of investor group)? And how many people of color have the level of accountability that investors require?

As for the cultural piece. For some reason it seems library and black folks don't meet up very often. It wasn't exactly culturally acceptable in my old neighborhood to be 'bookish' but that didn't stop me from devouring every issue of Popular Science I could find at the library. Taking me to the library was the best gift my blue-collar parents gave me. I don't see many parents of color 'gifting' that to their children these days. Kids have the lastest gadgets and games but do they have (and use) their library cards. The more science future I read, the more ideas I had about the future of science.

Investment from without is wonderful (and so needed) but people of color need to be investing more within our households and communities in 'real' things. That is, invest more in the building blocks of technology like books on coding a Web site than you do video games, nail salons, and designer clothes. Put wonderful in .. get wonderful out.

[kaidupe]

I am sooooooo happy to finally find someone who is not only writing about this issue but agrees that this is a problem. I ehco the sentiments of Mario and I will definitely be checking out Angela's work. I do similar work at http://www.whereareblacksintechnology.com and I conducting a study right now at Pepperdine University to provide answers to some of these questions. Thanks for the article.