Net neutrality victory is civil rights history in the making

[Commentary] Network neutrality is a civil rights issue -- and it appears the Federal Communications Commission will soon implement real net neutrality protections, thanks in large part to civil rights activists.

Media and communications technology has always been an important factor in activism, because it mediates how activists can communicate with each other and to the world. During the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s, organizers used phone trees and mimeographed pamphlets to distribute information and coordinate collective action. Black radio stations served as community bulletin boards and disseminated information about marches, police roadblocks, and voter registration. Today’s civil rights activists have a much more powerful tool at our disposal -- the open Internet. Our ability to be heard, counted, and visible in this democracy now depends on an open Internet, because it allows voices and ideas to spread based on their quality – not the amount of money behind them. In the wake of tragic and unjust police killings of unarmed black people in Ferguson, Staten Island, and across the country, young black people are using the Internet to organize in new ways. Organic, grassroots efforts like #IfIWasGunnedDown and #BlackLivesMatter are powerfully impacting the public conversation about race and the criminal justice system, and helping usher in a new era of progress and change.

Multiple generations of civil rights leadership have come together to define net neutrality as a 21st century civil rights issue. If the FCC stands strong against desperate, last-minute attempts to undermine its work, its net neutrality rules will be seen by generations to come as a major civil rights accomplishment, setting the stage for the continuation and acceleration of movements for justice and equality.

[Robinson is executive director of ColorOfChange.org.]