High Speed Internet Access is a Racial Justice Issue
The difference between working people and everyone else has been drawn into stark relief by this pandemic. We can see this vividly when it comes to the digital divide.
If you have money and you live in the right place, you have high speed internet. You might even be able to work from home. But many working people don’t have the access to these opportunities.
I recently read a piece in the Baltimore Sun titled: Pandemic underscores ‘redlining’ of broadband service in Baltimore that discusses broadband redlining. Broadband redlining is when internet cables are laid out in predominantly white and affluent neighborhoods, but low-income Black and Hispanic communities are left disconnected. Broadband redlining exacerbates a class system built on the legacy of white supremacy. Anyone who cares about closing the digital divide needs to speak out against this.
The conversation about broadband inequity in this country is simply incomplete without addressing broadband redlining. Right now, internet connectivity matters to folks’ livelihoods as much as electricity and water. But too many families are dealing with the injustice of digital redlining in our urban and suburban communities.
Meanwhile, our rural communities also struggle with connectivity. It’s a disgrace that in the 21st century, working people across geographic boundaries in the United States of America are struggling with something as basic and essential as internet connectivity.
Right now, the safest way to do just about anything is to get online but so many of us can’t. That’s not just because of digital redlining. It’s also because of the inability of our current leadership to step up. This compound failure affects our schools and our loved ones, our jobs and our healthcare providers, and our places of worship.
The fight for reliable internet is simple. It’s about people versus profits. I’m fighting for the rural working families in the Northern Neck as hard as I’m fighting for working families in Stafford, Dumfries, and Fredericksburg. Lack of internet access impacts us all, and we must respond with an intersectional approach. When elected I will stand up to big telecom companies because people are more important than profits.
The current system works for the wealthy, the powerful, and the well connected. It works for telecom companies and the politicians whom they’re able to influence with their big donations. It doesn’t work for anybody else. This is the biggest difference between my opponent and myself.
Over the years, Rob Wittman has accepted $93,000 from big telecom. He’s been bought by the likes of AT&T and Comcast, whereas I reject corporate PAC money. I’m not beholden to these mega-corporations, but Rob is.
I’m fighting for working people from Manassas to Montross. I am focusing my campaign on closing the digital divide by treating broadband internet access as a utility. This isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. This is about working families versus big corporations. This is about unjust digital redlining policies and shameful government inefficiency. Closing the digital divide is an economic justice issue, a racial justice issue, an issue that spans this country, and an issue that impacts all Americans in both urban and rural environments.
Together, we can end digital redlining. We can dismantle a system that’s rigged against working people. But in order to take this fight to Washington, I need your help. Click here to get involved with our campaign.
