Is the "internet revolution" reaching African-Americans?

[Plaid Adder]

Seriously. I'm worrying about this now.

I just got back from one of those Citizens for Truth meetings with congressional representatives (or, in our case, their staffers). While the meeting went well in general, it depressed me that although the major urban area in this guy's district is majority African-American (and depressed as hell), all of the people at that meeting were white.

Citizens for Truth has been organized by a bunch of different groups that recruit mainly through the internet: Working Assets, True Majority, and MoveOn.org. I am wondering if the internet revolution has really broadened beyond the white, white-collar professional or sub-professional class who are most likely to have been exposed to computers early and get internet access and training through their colleges or workplaces. Cause the angry white liberal vote is nothing to sneer at--I am one myself--but if we can't also tap into some larger, and probably even angrier populaions, I don't know how far we're gonna get.

So I would like to hear from other DUers: what can you tell me from your own experience with online organizing about how broad you think the reach is. Is my experience atypical?

Enquiring minds want to know,

The Plaid Adder

[Karenina]

1. I watched this thread drop like a stone.

No surprise...

[radwriter0555]

2. You mean black people don't have computers???

Whatta ya Comp USA? They said that didn't want to market to black people because they don't have money.

This was about 5 years ago.

[Plaid Adder]

4. No, fortunately I am not Comp USA.

I'm just wondering whether the online community represents America or not. I dunno whether it does. There are a lot of other ways to explain the fact that only white people turned up at that meeting, including the fact that white liberals may well be the only non-brainwashed people in America who are still naive enough to believe that this country is, or even used to be, a real democracy.

However, I think the way the thread dropped, as Karenina pointed out, may in part be the answer to my question...

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[tjdee]

3. I think you're "normal".

While the number of African American and Hispanic internet users are surging (that seems to be everyone's favorite word for it), they are still not equal to that of other folks. As a matter of fact, Asians and Pacific Islanders use the internet the most, according to the below article, pretty informative.

http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358731&rel=true

This reminds me of the thread about NC politics money--it would appear that the lion's share of donations come from white folks for whatever reason, so I wonder if the two issues are somehow connected.

Are white folks more involved in politics overall? I don't know. I'd guess yes, just because there are more of y'all. :-)

But, according to the Department of Commerce last year, only 54% of Americans are internet users. So......there's that to consider as well.