Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America | Black Agenda Report

Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America

Bill Quigley

15 Apr 2009

🖨️ Print Article

by InternetForEveryone.org

Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and other telco giants have spent mad public relations money spreading the myth that the digital divide is a thing of the past. Some heedless and lazy black bloggers have helped spread this lie, but it's still a lie. Redlining of and denial of service to poor and minority communities has been a core feature of the business models of the cable industry since its start decades ago, and of the phone companies for more than a century. But in the 21st century, cheap, available broadband internet is as necessary to economic development as paved streets and roads. Communities without it will become or remain economic, educational, business and social backwaters.

See, hear and read more stories about the digital divide and what it costs communities, families and lives....

America Offline

InternetforEveryone.org is working to shed light on the millions of Americans who live without regular Internet access or lack the training or equipment to get online. A small reporting team is traveling to communities across the country to tell people's stories. Free Press' Megan Tady interviewed residents of Los Angeles, Calif., and Washington, D.C. On this site, you can follow our trek and get an up-close view of America’s urban digital divide

Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America

A report on life without the Internet in urban Americ. Five stories, each with video. »

The web site of Internet For Everyone contains much more information, and is a frequently updated source of information on the campaign to bring high speed broadband to all our communities. Do check it out. If you have a web site or blog, link to it at http://www.internetforeveryone.org/.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism
17 Apr 2026
The Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism (PASAI) will be held on May 11 and May 12 in Nairobi, Kenya. It is organized as a counter-summit to the France-Africa summit taking place in Nairobi at…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Journalist Navid Zarinnal Reports from Iran
17 Apr 2026
Navid Zarrinnal is an Iranian journalist. He joins us again from Iran to discuss the fragile "cease fire," Trump's threats, the Strait of Hormuz, and how Iran's defense capabilities have frustrated…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Trump, Jesus, and White Supremacy
15 Apr 2026
Beliefs in white supremacy and manifest destiny are at the heart of Donald Trump’s actions and his appeal to millions of people.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Zionist Logic, Malcolm X, 1964
15 Apr 2026
“The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world…and also divide the Africans against the Asians.”
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Regarding Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran
15 Apr 2026
The political fallout from Trump’s recklessness in West Asia continues around the globe, while some wonder how far the radioactive fallout might travel if the war on Iran were to go nuclear.