The book will analyze the unseen forces that shape entrepreneurial opportunity in America. It will also delve into how we as a nation can level the playing field for future generations of new ventures towards greater sustainability, inclusion, and shared prosperity.
To be the first know when Invisible Capital will be released, please subscribe to my e-newsletter which will be automatically sent out whenever this site is updated. Or, if you are on Facebook, please consider joining the Chris Rabb fan page to get updates.
Finally, stay tuned for the launch of InvisibleCapital.com!
When Fox News’ Glenn Beck called President Barack Obama a racist this past July, the online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org launched a campaign
to convince advertisers to boycott the show. To date, some 280,000
people have joined the effort, and more than 60 companies have pulled
their ads.
CNN parted ways with Lou Dobbs last month after civil rights groups and Presente.org mobilized thousands of Latinos online to call on CNN to dump the talk show host for spewing hate against immigrants for years.
None
of this — not these advocacy efforts, not countless small business
success stories, not even the election of President Barack Obama —
would have happened without a free and open Internet.
For communities of color, the Internet provides us with a unique
opportunity to speak for ourselves without first seeking the approval
of gatekeepers or having to secure major funds to do so. But the big
telecommunications companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast want to
create an effectively segregated online community where they will act
as our gatekeepers.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
is now considering new rules that could protect the fundamental
principle of “Network Neutrality” once and for all. Net Neutrality
prohibits Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking,
discriminating against or deterring Internet users from accessing
online content and applications of their choice — such as
e-newsletters, blogs, social networking sites, online videos, podcasts
and smart-phone apps.
It is not that network owners are secretly
plotting to stifle free speech – at least not usually. But they have
an undeniable, rational interest in creating a pay-for-play model for
the treatment of communication on the Internet. Commercial websites
that pay will get speed and quality and the non-commercial uses of the
Net will be collateral damage – relegated to the slow lane. It’s not
necessarily that they want to block our speech for political reasons;
it’s that our speech is not important to them because it’s not going to
make them money.
Many of the most valuable things we do online
are non-commercial; they
exist because the Internet is
the first mass media system with no
gatekeepers
to dole out privilege to the highest bidder.
The
Internet provides our communities with a medium to access services,
find jobs, connect to friends, make inexpensive international phone
calls to family members, and to advocate for social change. Many of
the most valuable things we do online are non-commercial; they exist
because the Internet is the first mass media system with no gatekeepers
to dole out privilege to the highest bidder. That freedom and openness
is what makes the Internet different from broadcasting and cable. It
makes it valuable to our communities. We can’t allow Comcast,
AT&T, Verizon and other broadband providers to deliver substandard
Internet service to our communities.
Telecom Companies Want to Create Second-Class “Netizens”
But
the big phone and cable companies want to get rid of Net Neutrality and
control how the public accesses the Internet. These companies want to
charge websites extra tolls to secure the fastest speeds online, while
favoring their own content and services over their competition’s. Those
unable to pay will be banished to the slow lane online, becoming
second-class “netizens” without the same freedoms given to those with more money and influence.
This threat to Internet freedom isn’t hypothetical. Verizon got
caught blocking text messages sent by the pro-choice group NARAL to its
own members – though they backed down immediately under public
pressure. Comcast has also illegally interfered with file-sharing on
its network, a practice that earned them a rebuke from the FCC.
Even though President Obama pledged
he would “take a back seat to no one” on Net Neutrality, the big phone
and cable companies are pulling out all the stops to derail it,
including deploying Karl Rove¬–style scare tactics within our
communities and using their massive resources to block Obama’s agenda.
In the first nine months of 2009, they employed nearly 500 lobbyists and spent some $74 million to influence Congress and the FCC. Their misinformation has even convinced Glenn Beck that Net Neutrality is an attempt by President Obama to take over the Internet.
Who will protect the online rights of marginalized communities
against the raw profit motive of big business? We urge leaders in our
community not to yield to the underhanded scare tactics that
corporations like AT&T have used on our communities.
We Must Reject a Separate but Unequal Online World
One
of those scare tactics is the claim, pushed by phone and cable
companies, that Network Neutrality poses a threat to digital inclusion.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only does Net Neutrality
expand media diversity and access by ensuring fairness and
nondiscrimination by big corporations, it will prevent the kind of
media consolidation that has happened in the broadcast industry by
helping our communities develop a diversity of civic and commercial
online enterprises on a scale that represents our growing online
numbers.
It’s not necessarily that they want to block
our speech for political
reasons;
it’s that our speech is not important to them
because it’s not
going to make them money.
A primary reason for the digital divide
is that the cost of fully engaging in the online world is just too
expensive for many in our community. Broadband in the United States is
among the slowest but most expensive of any industrialized nation.
After years of consolidation, the largest telecom companies have gotten
away with price-gouging our communities because of a lack of
competition in the broadband market. More choices for broadband service
– not permitting more discrimination – are the key to bringing down
costs. Scrapping Net Neutrality in order to consolidate
control over the Internet by cable and phone companies is not the
answer. More market control won’t give them more incentive to sell
low-cost high-quality services to low-income communities. Our
communities will still be subject to the same business case that have
marginalized us in the first place –households that don’t have a lot of
money to spend. Shareholders aren’t charities, and we are foolish to
expect otherwise.
But more importantly, we should not be sacrificing an open Internet to bribe phone and cable companies not to practice forms of red-lining. The answer to the digital divide cannot be to deliver a second-class, closed Internet to our communities.
The historic fight against discrimination by groups like the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens
has led to great societal change, laying the groundwork for the
election of a president of color. We urge our colleagues in the civil
rights community to fight with us to ensure that telecom and cable
companies are not allowed to discriminate against our communities or
interfere with our capacity to speak for ourselves without first asking
AT&T, Verizon or Comcast for permission.
We
are living through a critical moment in our nation’s history. The FCC
is going to decide whether the Internet will remain an open platform
that allows for the greatest number of voices to participate in our
democratic society, or whether it will be a closed network controlled
by the big telecom companies.
We are
concerned about the dire consequences of living without Internet
freedom. It would create a separate but unequal online world where our
communities are unable to use the Internet to compete or to advocate
for justice when we have been wronged.
We need
civil rights, media justice, community-oriented and grassroots
organizations to stand together to make sure effective Net Neutrality
regulation will protect our communities from the predatory practices of
the phone and cable industries.
[L]iving without Internet freedom . . . would
create a separate but unequal
online world
where our communities are unable to use
the Internet to
compete
or to advocate for justice
when we have been wronged.
As
with past civil rights struggles that successfully expanded access,
thwarted discrimination, destroyed legalized segregation, and created
broad opportunity, so too will the cause for Internet freedom.
Malkia Cyril is the executive director of the Center for Media Justice.
Chris Rabb is the founder of the online community Afro-Netizen and is a
visiting researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs at Princeton University. Joseph Torres is the
government relations manager of Free Press and former deputy director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
The title of the speech is: "Don't Fear Success; Redefine It!"
A video of this speech (or parts thereof) may be uploaded to this site in the coming weeks. To be alerted when the site has been updated, simply add your e-mail address in the box to the right of this entry. (Your contact information will not be sold, rented or otherwise shared.)
My faculty sponsor is renowned professor of sociology Paul DiMaggio, who is known for his work analyzing social inequality. Prof. DiMaggio is also affiliated with, among other organizations, the Center for Information Technology Policy.
Demos is is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization
founded in 2000. Headquartered in New York City, Demos works with
advocates and policymakers around the country in pursuit of four
overarching goals:
a more equitable economy with widely shared prosperity and opportunity;
a vibrant and inclusive democracy with high levels of voting and civic engagement;
an empowered public sector that works for the common good;
and responsible U.S. engagement in an interdependent world.
The Fellows Program supports scholars and writers
whose innovative work influences the public debate about crucial
national and global issues. The program offers an intellectual home and
communications platform for more than 20 fellows from diverse
backgrounds: emerging public intellectuals, journalists, distinguished
public figures, and academics whose research can be used to inform the
policy world.
My efforts will focus on completion of my book, Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity, to be released in the Fall 2010 by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. I will also be working on initiatives that promote progressive entrepreneurial policies as well as crafting and advocating for innovative economic development programs on local, state, regional and national levels.
I am proud to announce that I have joined the board of directors of the Applied Research Center (ARC) based in Oakland, California.
I have been an admirer of ARC's work for a number of years and am excited about new service in the role as a director of this wonderful organization committed to "racial justice through media, research and activism".
The following video clips featuring me interviewing Obama pollster David Binder at the 2008 Facing Race Conference in Oakland, CA are courtesy of the Applied Research Center (ARC) on whose board of directors I proudly serve.
On September 5, 2007, I addressed a group of 200 senior African-American business executives in Westchester County, NY on issues of identity, community and leadership. Little did I know that I would be in the company of Gen. Colin Powell, the summit's keynote speaker later that same day. (Fortunately for me, I did not have to follow General Powell!)
My address focused on the various factors that influence how we choose to self-identify as well as how we define "community" towards understanding one's purpose as an individual and a leader in an organization.
I was invited to present at this summit by the event planners who coordinated this gathering. They saw the 2006 Black Enterprise article that featured me, and inquired if I could talk about leadership through the lens of genealogy and family history.
After weeks of collaboration, I was able to craft a highly interactive presentation that included compelling visual aids including family photos, diagrams and customized exercises that I facilitated at the conclusion of my talk.
The audience was warm, very much engaged, and surprisingly vulnerable (in the best sense of the word) for top managers of a Fortune 100 company and its key vendors. As a result of my participation at this gathering, I received invitations from various attendees to speak elsewhere and have maintained in contact with a number of people I met there.
This engagement was as much a learning experience for me as it was for my audience, and I find that I am still drawing lessons from my time in Ossining.
On Thursday, June 28, 2007, the Illinois Humanities Council hosted the event: Where Did You Come From? Genetics and Genealogy at the Newberry Library centered on a moderated panel featuring myself, author Ronne Hartfield and geneticist Dr. Rick Kittles.
This event, presented in partnership with the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society, American Medical Association, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, the DuSable Museum of African American History, The Historymakers, The Newberry Library, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, was also taped by the crew of 60 Minutes and the Illinois Channel.
Due to various technical difficulties that panelists experienced and limited time, I was not able to give my formal presentation that included my prepared remarks and aligned slideshow. That said, I adjusted my comments accordingly, and this is what ensued . . .
On Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 11am, I will be on a panel at the Take Back America conference entitled "Media Reform on the Rise: Building a Bigger Tent".
On Friday, May 18, 2007, I participated in a spirited panel at the ever-growing Personal Democracy Forum Conference at Pace University in New York City.
Read more here. But the short answer to the panel's question is: Yes, the Internet is color-blind, but the people on it are not. (That's an opinion, not necessarily a criticism.)
On April 19, 2007 at 7pm at the Penn Bookstore, I will be doing a second, genealogically-oriented presentation based on my forthcoming book, Rivers to the Soul: An American Genealogical Odyssey.
This workshop will not be about trite speeches or boring PowerPoint presentations. On the contrary, Liza and I have planned a highly informative, interactive and fun session for participants that will discuss not just how to build a blog for your organization or cause, but 1) why/if one should do so in the first place, and 2) what is the broader new media/netroots landscape for doing so and 3) the much larger socio-political context for leveraging this new, powerful activist tool.
On Monday, March 5th at 10am, I was interviewed on host Marty Moss-Coane's radio show "Radio Times' on WHYY-FM to discuss genealogy, slavery and cultural identity in the wake of recent news about Rev. Al Sharpton and Sen. Barack Obama's family ties to slavery.
My interview can be heard here in its entirety. (My interview was also videotaped and aired on Comcast Cable Channel 242 in the Philadelphia area.)
On Monday, February 26th, I delivered a genealogical presentation based loosely on my forthcoming book, Rivers to the Soul: An American Genealogical Odyssey, at the University of Pennsylvania bookstore.
I will be back for an encore presentation on April 19th at 7pm.
My weekly posts will focus on the theme of social responsibility. As a social commentator, consultant, "serial entrepreneur" and life-long student of organizational dynamics, I will use this national platform to advocate for an essential, new touchstone that represents the confluence of culture/ethnicity, civic engagement/politics, technology/media, and entrepreneurship/organizational innovation.
On Saturday, January 13, 2007, I participated on a panel called Citizen Journalism: Making an Impact in a New Media Landscape" at the 2007 National Conference for Media Reform in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, hosted by Free Press.
To listen to my opening remarks, please click here.
There is nothing like being made to feel like a nigger. Just having to verbalize it or commit such a thought to text is gut-wrenching. Janitor or journalist, if you're black in America, that feeling is both unmistakable and more familiar than it ever should be so long after the the visible successes of the civil rights movement. But despite the greater prospects, opportunities and privileges earned for and by many of us over the decades, the default has remained the same: The power dynamics that exist in this country at any given time may render us niggers.
I have often joked that if you ever want to see a modern-day Uncle Tom, look no further than me in the vicinity of a white police officer. The reality is, that is how I have been conditioned to behave around the police for pure self-preservation reasons, having grown up black in Chicago with parents who wanted their boys to live to adulthood. But the other reality is that whatever newfound liberties I have experienced, and all too often have taken for granted, I don't ever want to be made to feel like a nigger--something far, far worse than its utterance. It is a status whose roots form the tree from which we are lynched. Without the corollary lack of humanity and powerlessness, lynching could not occur, in all of its modern iterations, " contagious shootings" included.
Chris Rabb '92, co-founder of the Yale Black Alumni Network, said the administration has not taken leadership in substantively addressing this issue, since Yale has benefited from the money generated from the slave trade, played a historic role in the aftermath of the Amistad revolt and is located in New Haven, a city with a large impoverished black community.
"I think the silence is deafening as a black alum of a predominantly white institution," he said. "It heightens my long-standing suspicion of the extent to which the University is sensitive to its various constituencies."
My genealogical quest to untangle ancestry and heritage.
IN JUST OVER TWO YEARS OF DNA TESTING, I may have become the most genetically well-documented Black person to date.
I have cajoled and convinced relatives to assist me in this quest by
swabbing the inside of their cheeks in furtherance of the family good.
After more than a decade of intensive research in the tradition of our
family's elder genealogists going back three generations, I've been
able to identify 10 distinct African lineages coursing through my body.
I've been able to uncover what for so many descendants of enslaved
Africans is a tragically elusive piece of our family history. What I
initially thought was a potential means by which government agencies
and eugenicists could harvest and misuse people's genetic code, I
eventually saw as a powerful tool to delve deeper into the cultural
diversity of my African ancestry.
On Saturday, September 9, 2006, I will participate (virtually) on the Netroots panel at 3-day conference in Washington, DC entitled: Seize the Moment!: A National Activists Conference on the Public Financing of Elections.
On Tuesday, May 16, 2006, Christopher Rabb was elected as one of two Democratic Committeepeople for Division 1 of Philadelphia's 9th Ward representing 500+ registered Democrats in his East Mount Airy neighborhood. He serves a four-year term, representing the smallest, most grassroots unit of a political party's organizational structure.
On May 15, 2006, Rabb moderated a plenary panel entitled "How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Blogosphere" at the Third Annual Personal Democracy Forum Conference.
The Personal Democracy Forum Conference is an intensive one-day event at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. It features a stimulating cross-section of high-impact presentations, one-on-one interviews, keynote-level talks, tightly moderated panel discussions and breakout workshops led by industry experts.
On Rabb's panel was Jason Calacanis, Peter Daou, Mike Krempasky, Ari Rabin-Havt, Roger Simon, and Joe Tripp.
