Digital Commons Network^™

Remarks Made At The Telecom 95 Conference, 3 October 1995, Nelson Mandela

Trotter Review

This is a reprint of the address made by President Nelson Mandela at the TELECOM 95 Conference from October 3, 1995. In his remarks, he stressed the importance of new technologies for the development of the African continent, as well as the need for the expansion of communication and information networks. President Mandela also set forth his own "set of principles designed to enable the full participation of both the developed countries and the developing countries in building a global information society."

Who Determines What Our Children See, Read, Do, Or Learn On The Internet?, Sondlo Leonard Mhlaba

Trotter Review

The issue of appropriate use of the Internet at home and in schools is being hotly debated right now in, and outside, the Internet. In March 1995 Marlene Goss wrote a letter to the discussion list of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSNdisc@list.cred.net) appealing to educational policymakers to focus on access and equity when dealing with Internet in schools, instead of focusing on restricting such access. She found it remarkable how many hours were being spent "deciding student use when only 3% of the classroom teachers, professional adults, have use of the Internet." Her point was not so much that …

Quest To Own The Information Superhighway: How Much Of It Can Blacks Realistically Expect To Own?, Matthew S. Scott

Trotter Review

On the so-called information superhighway, cable systems, wire telephone lines, cellular services, satellite delivery and broadcast properties are converging to create an interconnecting electronic system on which audio, video and text can travel worldwide. Even though the system is not yet complete, many African Americans have expressed concern that they will somehow be left out on the back roads without an ownership stake. This essay will attempt to answer some of those questions pertinent to this quest of ownership.

Computer Utilization And Attitudinal Patterns In A Black Community, James Jennings

Trotter Review

During the Spring and Summer of 1995 The William Monroe Trotter Institute conducted a survey of resident utilization patterns and attitudes towards various facets of computer technology. This survey was commissioned by Freedom House, Inc. and supported with a grant from the AT&T Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts. The goal of this survey, composed of adult residents who have been served by Freedom House, and agency representatives of a small number of selected community-based organizations, is to inform planners at this agency about the computer technical needs, interests, and utilization patterns of its clients.

The Power Of Information And Communities Of Color, Lana W. Jackman, Patricia C. Payne

Trotter Review

In this age of the Information Superhighway, access to information has become a "human rights" issue for communities of color. Access to information is the backbone for economic growth in the world marketplace. Information literacy, the ability to find, evaluate, analyze, and use information effectively is the currency of infinite power and control of one's economic, social, and political destiny. For communities of color to gain access to this phenomenal communications/technological revolution, there is a need to become information literate.

Democracy, Technology And The Civil Rights Project, Caesar L. Mcdowell, Marianne S. Castano

Trotter Review

Democracy has been defined as "a political system in which the whole people make, and are entitled to make, the basic determining decisions on important matters of public policy." While the United States is often touted as the world's leading proponent of democracy, many U.S. citizens find themselves unable to engage in one of the central acts of democracy—creating public voice through public engagement. Public engagement in the United States is constrained by our inability to talk through our shared, complementary and divergent values. This lack of public engagement and our inability to speak in a "public voice" is also …

An Interview With E. David Ellington, President Of Netnoir, Inc., Harold W. Horton Jr.

Trotter Review

The following article is an interview with E. David Ellington, who was the President of NetNoir, Inc., a company "dedicated to digitizing, archiving, and distributing global Afrocentric content."

Creative Destruction In The Information Age: The Fallout On America's Latino Communities, Anthony G. Wilhelm

Trotter Review

The 104th Congress is in the midst of the first wholesale reform of telecommunications regulation in one-half century. The new regulatory framework emerging in the Republican-controlled Congress, if enacted, will usher in a radically deregulated, market-driven telecom environment, one in which the benefits of the emerging national information infrastructure will likely be distributed differentially, based on ethnicity and socio-economic status. Many U.S. residents may actually be charged higher rates for essential telecommunication services after deregulation (just as they did when cable television was deregulated), which may force many vulnerable users off the network. In addition, the concentration of media ownership …

Technological Revolution And The Black Studies Curriculum: A Course Proposal, Abdul Alkalimat

Trotter Review

A technological revolution is changing the world. The computer is fast becoming the universal tool in all aspects of work, production and communication, and innovations in bio-technology are fast transforming agriculture and health. The main impact of this technological revolution has been to restructure the economy, both the centers of accumulation as well as the labor process. It is also restructuring the methods by which people communicate, form and maintain communities. In general, the objective basis of social life is being fundamentally changed.

This essay proposes a basic course that not only focuses on the technological revolution, but should be …

Empowering Communities Of Color Through Computer Technology, Michael Roberts

Trotter Review

As we hurtle towards the 21st century, an increasing number of individuals start to realize that the ability to use computers and information technology resources effectively will determine how well individuals, organizations, and communities function in a rapidly changing technological society. Numerous studies, including one conducted in the Summer 1995 of Boston's Black community by Freedom House and The Trotter Institute, and highlighted in this issue, have documented the need of Americans—students, workers, unemployed, youth, adults and senior citizens, to become knowledgeable and proficient in the use of computers and information technology. There are several questions that do face communities …

Politics And The Information Superhighway, Bobby L. Rush

Trotter Review

The following statement was delivered on 24 May 1995 by the Congressman in support of the markup of The Communications Act of 1995.

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This issue of the Trotter Review focuses on one of the most important set of challenges facing the Black community in the U.S., and that is, how to access, and manage, and control, significant facets and processes associated with the information superhighway. This current issue identifies the nature of the challenges, but also proposes some strategies that the Black community and its leadership might consider to ensure both access and control over information technology.

Frameworks For Evaluating Technology Transfer, Saskia Wilhelms

Trotter Review

Technology can help us to keep air and water clean, to educate ourselves and others, and to make our lives more comfortable. Technology, however, has in the ears of many, a threatening ring. Whether technology serves human well-being depends on its usage. Dust-covered computers, abandoned factories, underutilized hospitals, chemical plants polluting our environment, nuclear power threatening our health—negative instances of technology application abound. To obtain greater positive results, technology has to be applied and transferred according to criteria that enable us to assess potential benefits and risks associated with the technology. Technology transfer includes tangible and intangible assets, such as …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

The Summer 1995 issue of the Trotter Review, "Public Health and Communities of Color: Challenges and Strategies," provides a range of essays and two personal commentaries on facets of public health, race, and ethnicity in urban America. The essays are written by scholars and activists familiar with public health and issues of race, access, and diversity. The first article is the Executive Summary of the Institute of Medicine's national report, Balancing the Scales of Opportunity: Ensuring Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Health Professions. This report focuses on the problem of underrepresentation of Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans in the …

Executive Summary: Prepared By Institute Of Medicine, Marion Ein Lewin, Barbara Rice

Trotter Review

The underrepresentation of minorities in the health and other professions has long cast a shadow over our nation's efforts to develop a more representative and productive society. Many laudable and durable programs nave been developed over the past 20 years to enlarge the presence of minorities in health careers, but these efforts have been unable to develop the infrastructure and momentum to produce and sustain an adequate number of minority professionals among the ranks of America's clinicians, researchers, and teachers. While there has been an increase in the numbers of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans enrolled in professional schools …

The Multicultural Mental Health Research Center (Mmhrc), Castellano Turner

Trotter Review

African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, and Native Americans have had relatively less access to the resources of society compared to white Americans. These resources include such things as educational and employment opportunities, political and economic power, and the goods and services that a prosperous society can produce. Health care is an important resource to which access is not equal for all groups. African Americans and other ethnic minority groups are, by most indices of health care access and utilization, underserved. Mental health services, in particular, have been shown to be less available to ethnic minority populations. Jones and Korchin, …

Disparities In The Health Care Status Of Women: Implications For Research, Marcia I. Wells-Lawson

Trotter Review

Even a cursory review of data on the health status of women reveals striking differences by race. According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, death rates among Black women from the three leading causes of death (cardiac disease, cancer and cerebrovascular disease) exceed those of white, Asian, Native American and Latina women for each age category from 45-84. With the exception of Black women, the death rates among white women from these diseases exceed those of other ethnic groups of women. Data on two of the risk factors for cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases (hypertension and obesity), show …

Can The Health Needs Of African American Men Be Met Through Public Health Empowerment Strategies?, Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Eric Whitaker

Trotter Review

Health promotion and disease prevention efforts, which use empowerment strategies and emphasize community control, are essential to overcoming the legacy of medical malfeasance and successfully improving the health status of black males. This discussion depicts the legacy of harm and presents the case for empowerment strategies; it also describes one Boston community-based program example of utilizing an empowerment strategy and concludes with a challenge to all health professionals to become enablers of empowerment rather than obstructions to it.

A National Minority Organ/Tissue Transplant Education Program: The First Step In The Evolution Of A National Minority Strategy And Minority Transplant Equity In The Usa, Clive O. Callender, Alvina S. Bey, Patrice V. Miles, Curtis L. Yeager

Trotter Review

In 1978, members of the Southeastern Organ Procurement Foundation approached us concerning the disparity between the large number of African American patients, 50% to 70% of all patients on dialysis (artificial kidney machines), and the small number of African American donors (3%), and asked us why and what could be done about it? From my perspective as an African American transplant surgeon at Howard University, these observations piqued my curiosity and I agreed to investigate them. Our investigation took us into three areas: 1. An evaluation of the data regarding transplantation in patients at the Howard University Hospital Transplant Center …

Programmatic Responses To The Aids Epidemic By Communities Of Color In Massachusetts, Ron E. Armstead

Trotter Review

The Centers for Disease Control found that minorities now account for more than half of all the HIV cases in the United States. For African Americans, the rate was more than 5 times as high as that for whites. Further, the disease has equally affected women and children in the African American community; 84% of the AIDS cases involving children age 12 and under can be found in the African American community. AIDS has now become the second leading cause of death for African American women. This essay describes a research project focusing on the factors involved in developing and …

Warning: Urban Living May Be Hazardous To Your Health: A Personal Perspective, Frederick G. Adams

Trotter Review

As a result of remarkable scientific and medical achievements of the 20th century, we now know that full and quality health is within reach for all Americans. Yet, despite these achievements, the burdens of inadequate health services too often falls more heavily on some population groups more so than on others. The fact that this "gap" in health status occurs more frequently among people with low income and people belonging to racial/ethnic minority groups, in particular African Americans, has been well documented nationally. Not only does the "gap" in the health status experienced by these groups include consistently higher excess …

Increasing The Number Of Black Health Professionals: A Case Of Commitment And Belief In Students, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

The infant mortality rate is as high as ever in the Black community; dental care is yet nil or almost non-existent for the vast majority of Black children; and hypertension continues to be a major problem in the Black community. Hence, even as we approach the 21st Century, healthcare in the Black community is yet, as the song stated in the movie, Casablanca, "it's still the same old story." There is seldom, if ever, a single solution to a catastrophic problem, but some kinds of solutions do stand out as logical and effective. Training Black physicians, who would be privileged …

Improving Health Care For Disadvantaged Local Communities: Proposing User Fees Based On Some International Experiences, Saskia Wilhelms

Trotter Review

The fact that national health care reform in the United States has been stalled is not reason for resign. More than ever, one has to design and implement creative options to achieve satisfactory health service at low costs. The political turnover in Congress shifts more responsibility to local governments. This means less funding and less willingness by the national government to be held accountable for health and social services. On the other hand, this situation may carry opportunity to impact social policies on a local level.

The living conditions in some of our communities equal those in so-called third world …

Coalition Building: Moving Toward Effective Coalitional Strategies Of Hiv/Aids Prevention In Communities Of Color, Lisa Roland

Trotter Review

Despite the overwhelming burden carried by blacks and Latinos in terms of AIDS, it has become evident that in keeping with the general and historical pattern of discrimination reflected in funding, allocation of resources, policies etc., communities of color have received insufficient support to effectively address the problem at hand. Further compounding this dilemma, communities of color have fought against each other to secure funding for particular community programs. While looking at our individual, immediate, and entirely valid needs, many of us have at times failed to see the impact of our individual actions and attitudes on a broader picture.

Ethnic Minorities And Mental Health: Ethical Concerns In Counseling Immigrants And Culturally-Diverse Groups, Gemima M. Remy

Trotter Review

Between 1980 and 1990 nearly 9 million foreign-born individuals migrated to the United States. In 1993, the Immigration and Naturalization Service recorded the entry of over 900,000 immigrants and refugees. This figure is believed to be higher given the estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million people who enter this country illegally each year. Currently, ethnic minority groups make up one-fourth of the United States population. It is estimated that by the year 2000, one-third of the U.S. population will be comprised of ethnic minorities. As the population of the United States becomes increasingly diverse, considerable attention is being directed to a …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

These two issues of the Journal focus exclusively on the Latino community in the United States, which is the fastest-growing minority in the country. It is a development that poses profound questions regarding the course this country will take into the twenty-first century and the way in which it will define itself. It will sever the almost metaphysical distinctions between the melting pot and multiculturalism, opposites on a philosophical curve that are as much self-created as self-evident.

Three areas of Latino experience are examined in this volume — the impact of immigration policies, employment and income opportunities, and the degree …

Social Networks And Employment For Latinos, Blacks, And Whites, Luis M. Falcón

New England Journal of Public Policy

Despite the immigrant character of Latino groups in the United States, little attention has been given to the role of social networks in the job-search process and in labor market outcomes for Latinos. The literature on social networks describes their use as important in providing access to jobs but neutral as to affecting earnings or attainment of prestige. This study uses data from a 1988-1989 Boston survey to examine the effect of finding employment through social networks on the income attainment of white, black, and Latino workers. Job seekers in all groups rely on such networks, but Latinos exhibit the …

Foreword, Edwin Meléndez

New England Journal of Public Policy

This is the first of two parts of "Latinos in a Changing Society"; Part II is scheduled for Fall/Winter 1995 publication. The following articles provide new insights into several key areas of concern: immigration, employment and income, and political participation. Part II articles will address education, health, and identity and ethnicity.

Latinos And Labor: Challenges And Opportunities, Andrés Torres

New England Journal of Public Policy

The growing presence of Latino workers in the Massachusetts labor force presents opportunities as well as challenges for the labor movement. An overview of occupational, industrial, and unionization patterns helps to describe the potential for Hispanic contribution to renewed union strength in the region. But revitalizing the house of labor in the twenty-first century requires an innovative interplay of workplace and community strategies. As labor comes to terms with its multiracial/multicultural constituency, the relationship between class and race/ethnicity is being revisited, as is the very definition of "labor movement."

Puerto Rican Politics In The United States: A Preliminary Assessment, José E. Cruz

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the following question: What characterizes Puerto Rican political development and what promise does electoral politics hold for Puerto Ricans in the United States? Its central premise is that an analytical framework which focuses on economic deprivation and racial prejudice is partial and inadequate to an understanding of the political experience of Puerto Ricans. Throughout the years, mainland Puerto Ricans have moved in and out of the political stage holding the banners of anti-colonialism, separatism, incorporation, and ethnic identity in search of vantage points from which they can satisfy their cultural, social, and economic needs. Despite the Airbus …