Maurita Coley

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the digital divide in an unprecedented way. As civil rights leaders and a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, we are calling on our nation’s leadership to enact a robust connectivity plan to address the immediate and future needs of marginalized communities. An astonishing 34 percent of Black adults, 39 percent of Latino adults, and 47 percent of those on tribal lands do not have a home broadband connection. This compares with the 21 percent of White adults who do not have broadband at home.

[Commentary] African American ownership of Federal Communications Commission-licensed television broadcast stations has declined from a high of 21 stations, to just three. This is despite statutory requirements for diversity and inclusion in the use of the public airwaves.

While we have long advocated for increasing minority ownership of licensed broadcast television and radio facilities, as communications technologies have converged and emerged, our advocacy has expanded to explore matters such as:

• How policies that advance minority entrepreneurship can help stimulate economic opportunity, generate wealth, and enhance innovation in the communications industries, and
• How universal broadband adoption can create jobs, promote STEM education, and enable the creation of diverse content and applications for telehealth, digital education, and entrepreneurship.

We advocate that the FCC should require the applicants to include specific factors promoting greater minority inclusion in these transactions, such as partnerships and spinoffs. We believe greater minority participation will ultimately drive more competition, promote the delivery of new and innovative services, and help create a more robust economy for all Americans.

People of color should also be spectrum owners, not just consumers and suppliers, and the public interest requires this.