something i posted in s.c.a.a in late '93 or early '94 - mellow (actually you could pin the date by checking which issue of wired i'm talking about)
Subject: Re: Blacks and Computers Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american References: C7Iqw9.JID@mach1.wlu.ca
I am taking Tycho Brahe's method when it comes to political activism for African Americans in cyberspace. Empirical. I believe that it remains to be seen what we will do. A great deal, I beleive, hangs on the forward efforts of groups like EFF and CFP to negotiate some ground rules and working dialog on issues of speech in cyberspace, but I also think that many of them will be dismayed to find that black speech might not fit into their well crafted definitions. Yet and still, outlawed speech, according to the developing consensus of EFFers and the government might prove politically useful as blacks use it. As I think of the precedents in rap music of sampling and issues of intellectual property et al, as we break down conventions for our own political purposes, we may be headed for much controversy. I have posted in this forum whole cloth from Kochman something to the group which I felt was of some importance. Others have done likewise on matters of concern to the group. I believe that I do so out of some sense of our orality as a culture. When the authority is not present, it is important that her words are. To shrug the issue in deferring to an arbitrary concept such as intellectual property does seem to me irresponsible as I firmly believe it does with my fellows. The word has got to be spoken, the response is 'Word!'
You have also seen, I am sure, the recent intervention of net police in the matter of the Admiral's weak ass humor (1). This is the type of scrutiny that we suspect. We have stood corrected. In short, what our appropriate response to the Admiral should be has already been pre-determined. I can't think of why blacks would stand for it other than the fact that we are not independent in this matter. At some point, I expect somebody to violate these (as far as we know) arbitrary rules. There is no visible black presence in the net police, what are we to assume? We can safely assume, though I'm sure nobody is gathering evidence to back up such a claim that what goes as common knowledge in s.c.a.a. as regards the racial breakdown of cross-posted racist speech is correct. White folks do make more racially offensive remarks in black oriented spaces than blacks in white. As long as this presumption remains, any defense of an Admiral, as the restriction of appropriate retribution is perceived, will constitute yet another example of white cronyism and blaming the victim.
I got into a spat with someone in another forum about the current views on education and just what would be considered an appropriate use of computer technology in black communities. Most certainly what any one community will do is anybody's guess, but I suspect that the black church will provide one avenue into cyberspace. As well I have seen mentoring programs sponsored and / or staffed by black professionals and students which are particularly interested in computer literacy. But literacy is not my real interest wrt black usage of computers and I beleive that emphasis is wrong-headed. What is entirely more interesting is the effect that computer networking has on ideas about community and publishing. The parallel interest by blacks of images in media serves as a powerful entree into just such an area, but most folks who talk about putting computers in front of black folk who may have never used on before presume that the interest should be in 'the basics'. I think that is no way to garner interest, so what I always do is ask black folks exactly what questions would they be interested in hearing answered if they were given the opportunity to use the Internet. I have yet to hear anyone say 'job training' or 'computer literacy' even though most of these folks have never used a computer. In my opinion, black folk want to network for the sake of hooking up with other black folk. You don't see that so much in s.c.a.a. but the kinetics are way different in the more private dls. Its more intimate and affirming. That's key. Therefore I think that the introduction of computers into African American populations must have the networking component. If Spike's X is education, then networking computers is education. If blacks can decide that, then they will be pleased. The problem remains, then about who pays. Big props go to those who can conceive of ways to route public funds to 'inner-cities' for the purposes of 'education'. Still, who decides what the proper exposure to computers will be in order for it to pass some 'educational' standard? You see? Read Papert's article re: 'beyond literacy' in the latest 'Wired'. The way he plays with computers may be OK, but the 'inner-city' child will have a different set of criteria. This you can bet.
I personally think that Prodigy is beneath contempt. That's because I grew up, so to speak, with XNS and the internet, and full powered workstation windowing. Parc technology. My entree into Compuserve, from a black perspective was enjoyable but only so far. Both are likely too expensive for ongoing dialog. My experience with black oriented DLs, (coming from Xerox BlackNetwork and bnet@mit.prep in the mid-late 80s) is that dialog is the preferred mode of discourse. An interface like PicoSpan (used by WELL) is in my view more amenable to the black mode of conversation. As a black man, I am always more comfortable around white folk when I am not the only black around. It takes the pressure off. By extension, the quality and honesty of dialog by black participants is greatly enhanced when they feel secure from Admirals. Since no such black space exists on Compuserve, and probably does not exist on Prodigy (which is getting notorious re: speech rules) blacks would probably be less comfortable joining such spaces *as blacks*. That in combination adds, in my view, to the cost of black success in those fora right now. What I fear is that blacks will be introduced to networking via those media and given to beleive that there is nothing more.
The current press talks about the Internet as if it were an incredibly foreboding technical jungle. I know that I could teach any kid with ninetendo skills how to use pine, elm, or nn for that matter in a matter of hours. Thus, in my book, the Internet is the avenue of choice for it's low cost, high conversational bandwidth, and large African American population. If we are given to believe that the political clout of anyone can be improved by membership in a distribution list with the capabilities of those found on the Internet, then naturally the same is true for blacks.
The question, with respect to the above (two?) paragraphs, is whether or blacks will be encouraged to improve their political clout via these means. As a matter of access to elected officials, I doubt that anyone has any great expectations. As a matter of access to specific information of interest, this still has yet to be determined. Texts of FOIA releases, for example, might be of interest to the African American community. Texts of bills before Congress might be of interest. I have not had the patience to gopher around for such objects. Who will and where will their findings be published in cyberspace? The precedent to my current disinterested view is largely commercial. In my experience referenced materials have been scantily used, but are becoming more part and parcel of the conversation (as with whole cloth postings seen recently). What remaining documents will be included and what will be their benefit, I am waiting to see. Alt.rap has samples of popular raps archived somewhere on a heavily contested NeXT cube. If blacks find something of political or aesthetic value in a public space, what is the likelihood it will remain available under the forced razor of scarcity? Coretta can't even get her late husband's papers.
The issue of encryption has broken in black fora to weak applause. Nobody wants to be that paranoid. But when the speech issue comes to have a black face, you can be sure that this will change. In every forum, sooner or later, the issue comes up. We shall see. In s.c.a.a. you may have seen in the past couple months 2 anonymous postings. The first was by some non who insulted regarding Affirmative Action or some such nonsense. He was roundly disabused and we saw the penet service as a cyberSheet. The second was by someone who confessed his fear of young black men. We thought him brave and his an appropriate use of the anonymous service. The attitudes of students vs those of professionals, in my experience differs on the issue of security. The students tend to be bolder and care less who listens. Professionals have indicated they would like to communicate more things but don't because someone may be watching. This may be a factor of the fact that the professional context was an internal network vs Internet, but also I think it is related to the value of information users would like to pass. Politically speaking, the arguments against conspiracy are not as loudly raised, in my experience in the black fora. We are more likely protecting ourselves as we presume the old boys do when they plan against our interests. I think the sentiment will be towards encryption in the long run as the populations get thicker in the net.
So, as for black political melioration in cyberspace is concerned, I think there are several things to watch.
- How many ordinary black folks will get on board.
- How many extraordinary black folks will get on board.
- How blacks perceive their welcome into the high bandwidth fora.
- How they are able to carve out and maintain their own space in the techweenie cyberspace ghetto.
- How expensive tools will be.
- The redefinition of speech.
There are many other issues which are more general to black politics which I think will be reflected by netters. Yet, I'm unsure how to qualify the segment of the population which is already telepresent. Since I am bap/boho myself,my perspective is a bit twisted, and actually I see far more potential in the immediate future for cultural prospects than political. Still, the politics involved in maintaining that cultural space may get heated. I expect that a major thrust in the short run will be that of entrepreneurship general networking and increasing cultural exchange between blacks. I think that privatization of bSpace (my term) will increase, as more buppies bring silicon to the 'hood. I think that in general, blacks will be more overtly and expressly political in all of their networked activities, just as we are in our literary publishing efforts. I think it's time to go home and eat dinner.
1. Some character named 'Admiral' posted nigger jokes into the various discussion threads of S.C.A.A. Complaints were made to the Usenet administration by some white members of the group. Some black members of the group announced their intention to determine exactly who this person was and to mailbomb him. The blacks were warned by Usenet administration that such actions were criminal. They also said that a formal process would have to be followed in order to have the Admiral's posts cancelled but that he could not be ejected from an unmoderated group.