Commentary

COMMENTARY: Black Tech Genius Is All Around Us

THE AFRO — Black genius is all around us. It is inescapable. We see it in our neighborhoods. We see it in our schools. We see it in our churches.

Published

8 years ago

January 14, 2019

Oakland Post

By Ateya Ball-Lacy

Black genius is all around us. It is inescapable. We see it in our neighborhoods. We see it in our schools. We see it in our churches. Black genius is sitting at the dinner table in plain sight.

You know those shows you like to binge watch and those GIFS we all can’t live without? We wouldn’t have them without the pioneering work of a Black woman named, Lisa Gelobter.

With her own personal flavor of Black girl magic and a degree in computer science from Brown University, Gelobter has completely changed the way information and entertainment are produced and consumed around the world.

You can also thank a Black man by the name of Mark E. Dean for being able to watch GIFs and videos in color. In addition to leading the team that designed IBM’s first personal computer, Dean created the first color computer monitor. With a degree in engineering from the University of Tennessee, Dean took the digital age from black and white to full color.

And did you know that before Bill Gates, Africa had Philip Emeagwali? Originally from Nigeria, Emeagwali moved to the United States where he obtained a B.A. degree from the University of Oregon and earned two Master’s degrees from schools in Washington, D.C. While this Black genius is known as the “Bill Gates of Africa,” it wasn’t Gates who developed
the world’s first supercomputer – it was Emeagwali.

Black genius is not just now guiding us into the future of technology – it has been the future for a while.

So, it’s no surprise that the next great tech hub in the United States is being built in an area with one of the largest concentrations of Black communities and Black talent in the nation.

Amazon should recognize this as it begins to build its HQ2 in Crystal City, Virginia, just a river jump away from the nation’s capital.

Washington, D.C. is the “East Coast” answer to the “West Coast” Silicon Valley. We’ve watched D.C. steadily emerge into a well-known incubator of start-ups. From federally funded IT and defense projects to major innovation sector titans like Amazon who are pitching tents throughout the region: D.C., Maryland and Virginia (or “#DMV” as it’s affectionately known) has evolved into a region also defined by tech giant HQs in Northern Virginia to the biotechnology laboratories extending from Montgomery County to Baltimore.

This should sound like great news for Black folks in the DMV area, a region that is nearly 30 percent Black in population composition. Washington, D.C. itself is just barely majority Black at 48 percent of the city-wide population and neighboring Prince George’s County (Maryland’s second largest) is nearly three quarters Black. Baltimore, Maryland is also a majority African-American city. And as the region’s technology corridor grows, so do parallel efforts from school systems and area universities (some of the top in the world) to produce more graduates with “STEM” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees.

Yet, the entire National Capital region still suffers from high Black unemployment rates and low wages.

What could easily solve this problem? Obviously, the burgeoning tech industry in the region. Still, for a number of reasons, the tech industry hasn’t yet received the message that there is a deep well of Black digital genius ready and waiting to take on these roles.

Let me take a minute to boast Howard University, my Alma Mater. Howard University is an innovative leader in STEM fields. Howard is a top producer of undergraduate African American students who eventually earn a Ph.D. in STEM-oriented subjects. Let that sink in!

As D.C.-area WTOP News recently reported, “Information Technology (IT) professionals can write their own ticket right now, with a nagging shortage of talent restricting U.S. information technology job growth despite high demand.”

According to the WTOP report, Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, blames the country’s inability to fill IT jobs on a lack of talent-supply in STEM fields. He is quoted as saying, “Despite robust demand in many IT skill sets, we simply do not have enough qualified IT professionals.”

Really? Something’s not adding up. Especially when Amazon will need 50,000 more of those professionals.

If there is high unemployment in, for example, D.C.’s Black community – where the Black jobless rate, according to the D.C. Fiscal Policy Center, is nearly five times the national rate at 14 percent – then that should naturally match high demand for IT employees. Why isn’t Black talent being tapped to cross this bridge?

Complaints of a “shortage” suggest that while the area is flooded with Black folks looking for employment opportunities, they don’t have the proper training required to access those opportunities. In other words, the tech corridor has an education pipeline problem.

In a U.S. News ranking of the best STEM high schools in the United States, Maryland boasted 9 of them. Still, these schools aren’t opening doors for Black students as much as they could. Of the 13,761 students afforded the opportunity to attend one of these nine schools, only 1,218 are Black. Maryland’s Black population is nearly 35 percent, including
a massive presence of African and Caribbean migrants. But the Black population of the top STEM schools in Maryland is less than 9 percent.

There’s your pipeline problem.

To access positions in STEM fields through the National Capital region, “talent” must be formally trained and certified. This usually comes from accredited colleges and universities. If there is a lack of trained professionals available in STEM fields, it would follow that there was a lack of people interested in being trained in those fields.

But a closer look at institutions – such as the University of Maryland, for example – proves that there is an abundance of interest in advanced STEM degrees. In fact, there is so much interest the university has employed questionable gatekeeping methods on their graduate programs to ensure that people are actively fenced out.

According to the University, “Certain majors are very popular and require a limit on the number of students they can accommodate and are designated Limited Enrollment Programs (LEP). Students in an LEP major must successfully complete a specific set of courses, or ‘gateway’ requirements by the semester in which they earn 45 credits.” Computer Science and Engineering are both LEP programs.

That is why it’s now, more than ever, crucial for regional Black communities to develop creative ways to circumvent the clogged tech sector pipeline. Especially with Amazon’s HQ2 on the way. While encouraging industries, policymakers and academic institutions to recognize the diverse talent and potential employment pool they’re overlooking, we also need to mold and strengthen our own community organizations, religious institutions and schools (from K-12 to regional HBCUs) to fill these voids left open by systemic ignorance.

There is no shortage – only a lack of will and vision. The gateway is blocking Black talent access into places like the DMV corridor. There isn’t a gap between talent and the tech industry – there is a fence. And it’s time we stop it from keeping Black genius out.

Ateya Ball-Lacy is founder/executive director of Hood Smart: The UrbanSTEMulus Project, a dynamic DC-based program that promotes increased STEAM education for Black youth in the region.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Oakland Observes Black August with Block Parties, Film Showings, Workshops

POST NEWS GROUP — Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

Published

20 hours ago

August 15, 2026

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George Jackson wrote two books: “Soledad Brother,” and “Blood in My Eye” before her was killed in an attempt to escape prison on Aug. 21, 1971.

By Jana Lang, Propel Youth Reporter

Study. Train. Fast. Fight.

These are the four tenets of Black August, a month dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of political prisoners and Black revolutionaries in the struggle for Black liberation.

Observers are urged to study the history of the Black struggle for freedom, train their bodies for health and self-defense, fast to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, and fight ongoing oppression alongside their communities and local political organizations.

Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

While in prison, George befriended fellow prisoner W.L. Nolen, who introduced him to the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon. This radicalization coupled with his experiences of violence while imprisoned led to him writing and publishing two books, “Soledad Brother” (1970), and “Blood in my Eye” (1972). In January of 1970, George and two other prisoners were charged with murdering a corrections officer at Soledad State Prison in Monterey County.

On Aug. 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom armed with a shotgun to demand the freedom of the Soledad Brothers. He, along with the inmates he freed, was shot and killed while driving away. This involved one of the Black Panther Party’s most notable associates, Angela Davis, because the shotgun was registered in her name. She was later acquitted of charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder in 1972.

On Aug. 21, 1971, George Jackson was assassinated by a corrections officer after attempting to escape and free other inmates. As a result, there were uprisings and protests within prisons all over the country that year, calling forth resistance against racial oppression and mass incarceration.

Since its outset, Black August has evolved across the country, taking many forms to honor this history and embody the four tenets.

In Oakland, the upcoming Black August Experience, hosted by Youth Alive! and the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), is a free, family-friendly event celebrating the legacy of Black August. Activities include free food and drinks, a kids’ activity zone, interactive workshops, live cooking and boxing demonstrations, and more.

Happening on Aug. 21 from 4-8 p.m. at the EOBA Patio, Carolyn Flynn, director of administration at EOBA, said the event, in its second year, will be an opportunity to engage with people in person through food, shared space, and education.

“We do regular classes in education, and those are ongoing programs that we offer, but we wanted to have [an opportunity] for our neighbors to utilize this space.” Combined with Youth Alive’s work in community violence prevention and youth leadership, this event surely aims to bring the Oakland community together to capture what Black August means today.

Here are additional Black August events happening in Oakland:

Forum and Community Discussion hosted by the Oakland Liberation Center, 1499 Fruitvale Ave., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.

“George Jackson/San Quentin” Screening hosted by Nostalgic for Nothing Cinema at Moments Co-Op, 410 13th St., Aug. 16, doors at 6 p.m., show at 6:30 p.m. (Masks required and scent-free)

Commemorating the Struggle, Building the Altar for Liberation: Black August at Bandung Books, 2269 International Blvd., Aug. 23rd, 1-5 p.m.

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

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20 hours ago

August 15, 2026

Oakland Post

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Commentary

COMMENTARY: Why Local School Tax Measure G1 Will Not Be on the November Ballot

POST NEWS GROUP — Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.

Published

20 hours ago

August 15, 2026

bpusa-syndication

By Jennifer Brouhard, Oakland School Board President

There has been considerable speculation recently about why Measure G1 will not appear on the November ballot and what that means for the Oakland Unified School District’s current budget.

I want to provide some clarity about what happened and, importantly, what did not happen.

Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.

Because these funds are important to our schools and to the continuity of these programs, the district initially intended to place a renewal initiative on the November ballot to provide greater early certainty about funding beyond the expiration of the current measure.

As part of that process, the Board scheduled a special meeting for the required public hearing on the ballot initiative. There has been some suggestion that this meeting was noticed only one day in advance. That is not accurate.

Public hearings of this nature are subject to specific notice requirements, and the meeting must be noticed at least two weeks before the hearing. In practice, the notice may appear even earlier depending on publication schedules. The notice for the Measure G1 public hearing was published in the Tribune on 7/24/2026 and 7/31/2026.

So, why wasn’t the Measure G1 paperwork ultimately filed?

After the Board approved placing the measure on the ballot, the next step required the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools to sign the necessary paperwork before it could be submitted to the Oakland City Clerk.

During that process, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro raised concerns about potential litigation stemming from another court case unrelated to OUSD and about whether proceeding with the measure could expose the district or County to legal challenges. Superintendent Castro’s action is unprecedented and concerning.

It is important to distinguish between the Board’s decision to pursue Measure G1 and the subsequent procedural and legal issues that arose. The Board did approve moving forward with the measure. The measure did not fail because the Board chose not to support it, nor was the public hearing improperly noticed.

The decision not to proceed with the November ballot was made in light of the County’s concerns about potential litigation and the County’s required approval process.

We also need to be clear about what this does, and does not, mean for OUSD’s current budget. The existing Measure G1 funds remain available through the expiration of the current measure in 2029. The immediate issue is the longer-term continuity of funding beyond that date, not the elimination of these resources from the current year’s budget.

Our responsibility as a Board is to protect the educational programs and services our students depend on while ensuring that our decisions comply with the law and protect the district from unnecessary legal and financial risk.

We will continue working to understand the County’s concerns, explore our options, and advocate for the resources our students deserve. Our middle school students, teachers, and school communities deserve stability, and continued investment in arts, music, world languages, and teacher retention—and that work remains a priority for Oakland Unified.

Jennifer Brouhard is a retired OUSD educator and is the current OUSD School Board President representing District 2.