How the NAACP is Promoting Broadband Adoption

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is working to bring broadband to homes in the African-American community and beyond.

For over 100 years, this dynamic civil rights organization has worked for equality for people of color nationwide. Recently, the NAACP, in partnership with other organizations, has increased efforts to promote broadband deployment and adoption in African-American homes. The thought of civil rights often brings to mind images of historic marches and boycotts. A generation ago, such undertakings brought attention to unequal treatment, encouraging action among those who could work to promote equality. In the age of information, inequality doesn't look the same as it did in the 20th century. Today’s civil rights challenges include digital inequality. A study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that high-speed Internet, commonly referred to as broadband, is enjoyed in 75 percent of homes nationwide, 69 percent of which are white, but only 59 percent of which are African-American. The NAACP is working to increase these numbers by promoting digital equality, which is often called the civil rights issue of the 21st century.