The Broadband Divide in the US Is Not Color Blind

Millions of Black Americans have been impacted by the digital divide, the gulf between people who have access to any internet at all and those who don't. For as long as the internet's been around, people of color have been more likely than their white counterparts to fall on the wrong side of this divide. The Pew Research Center has asked US adults about how they use the internet since 2000, and every survey has shown Black and Hispanic Americans lagging behind white respondents. Internet access is a force multiplier. It significantly improves health outcomes, increases employment rates and even boosts our psychological well-being. "I like to joke that you give me an issue, and I'll tell you why internet connectivity impacts it," said Claudia Ruiz, a senior analyst at UnidosUS, a civil rights organization. The flip side of that coin is that people without it -- a group that is disproportionately Black, Hispanic and Native American -- experience all those effects in the opposite direction. To reap the benefits of the internet, you need three things: a connection available where you live, the means to afford it and the tools to use it. Every situation is unique, but in my seven years of reporting on the broadband industry, I've found that those boxes have often gone largely unchecked for minority communities. "Having access to the internet is a social determinant of well-being, and it is something that improves quality of life, which has a series of economic and social outcomes for communities," said Nicol Turner Lee, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.