CHICAGO — By the time Jerry Whirley heard that a $9 billion quantum-computing campus was coming a few blocks from his South Shore home, most of what he actually needed from his neighborhood, like somewhere to buy medicine or groceries, had already vanished. He didn’t learn about “Quantum City” from the governor or the mayor, […]
Technology
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy, Technology
In Houston, A Program Turns Sunlight into Second Chances for Incarcerated Texans
HOUSTON — Leon Dillard gripped the solar panel tight, sweat stinging his eyes as he scaled the sun-baked roof for the first time. His adrenaline racing, he remembered making sure his harness was clipped not once, but twice. He’d never climbed up onto a roof before, let alone with a 50-pound panel of metal and […]
Posted inTechnology
‘Digital Resistance’: Black Coders Battle Biased AI Systems
For African Americans, providing our data to artificial intelligence — or AI — doesn’t end when you start a search for a protest happening near you, ask for the best Black-owned businesses, or even about whether you need a lawyer when speaking with law enforcement. Technology experts say our personal data and the questions we […]
Posted inBlack Businesses, Politics & Policy, Technology
With TikTok Ban in Limbo, Black Creators Face an Uncertain Future
The story has been updated. The original story was published on January 16. Lifestyle content creator Talia Cadet hasn’t quit her day job, but TikTok has changed her life, she says. The additional income generated from her viral lists of Black-owned products, books she loves, and local events has made “a huge difference,” especially as […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Rural Issues, Technology
Broadband Program Changes Stir Uncertainty for Rural Black Communities
A promise made by former President Joe Biden to connect millions of Americans to reliable and affordable high-speed internet service may become another casualty of President Donald Trump’s campaign to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the nation. A top outgoing official at the U.S. Department of Commerce warned that funds for the Broadband, […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Technology
America’s Digital Demand Threatens Black Communities with More Pollution
Ninety years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and South Carolina Gov. Ibra Blackwood worked together to bring electricity to rural South Carolina. But to build the power plant that would make it happen, they destroyed the homes of 900 Black sharecropping families. With them, 6,000 graves — including those of formerly enslaved people — were […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education, Technology
HillmanTok Is Bringing Black Academia to the Masses on TikTok
Call it a Freedom School for the social media age. Hundreds of Black professors are making their classes available to the public for free on TikTok. Just as their analog predecessors sought to teach African American children through an informal network of Black-led classrooms beginning in the 1960s, this digital version attempts to broaden the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Technology
Crypto-Mining Creates New Environmental Injustices for Black Texans
Bitcoin is more than just a shiny new way to lose money. It’s also fueling Texas’ energy struggles as the state prepares for another year of record-breaking heat. And Black communities are caught in the crosswires of climate change, those booming data centers, and the power plants needed to meet both demands. Last year, during […]
Posted inRural Issues, Technology
Millions May Lose Internet Benefits if Lawmakers Don’t Act
For years, Leon Hudson struggled to get high quality home internet in the countryside of Selma, Alabama. If he wanted the service, he would “have to get a petition, go to the neighborhood, and get people to sign it for them to put their stuff there,” the 50-year-old recalled last fall about what internet service […]
Posted inPartner Content, Technology, The Workplace
Whistleblowing While Black: How Truth-Telling Changes the Careers of Black Women in Tech
This article was copublished with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics, and policy. Sign up for The 19th’s newsletter here. The night of Jan. 5, 2021, Anika Collier Navaroli slept poorly. She had an uneasy feeling about what might happen in Washington, D.C., the next day. Back then, Navaroli was a senior policy official at […]