Remarks of Commissioner Starks at MMTC Digital Equity & 35th Anniversary Kickoff

I am honored to join you for this kickoff in recognition of Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s (MMTC) thirty-five years of serving as a leading voice for communities of color and other marginalized groups, and working to achieve equity and inclusion in the Tech, Media, and Telecom industries. As noted by the late Congressman John Lewis: “Access to the internet ... is the civil
rights issue of the 21st century.” Digital equity requires connectivity, and we know that our communities have suffered from longstanding connectivity inequities that fall along racial, income, and geographic lines. Remedying those inequities is our shared cause and mission. I have worked tirelessly—alongside many here today in our community, including Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC)—to bring about change to the structures and policies that have for decades kept us from closing the digital divide.