Online Racial Divide Grows
By TED BRIDIS, AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - The disparity between whites and black and Hispanic Americans
who own computers and use the Internet is growing significantly toward a ``racial
ravine,'' in many cases even after accounting for differences in income, the government
reported today.
The Commerce Department's ``Falling Through the Net'' survey shows dramatic
gains in the number of Americans embracing technology. But it also cites money, education
and whether a person lives in an urban area as key factors affecting how closely they use
those high-tech tools.
``The Net is increasingly becoming part of our national heritage - for some
people,'' said Larry Irving, a Commerce undersecretary and President Clinton's top
telecommunications adviser. ``The worst persons (for likely access to technology) would be
low-income blacks or Hispanics in a rural community.''
Most troubling for government experts were indications these disparities can't
be blamed solely on differences in income. Among families earning $15,000 to $35,000, for
example, more than 33 percent of whites owned computers, but only 19 percent of blacks
did, and that gap has widened nearly 62 percent since 1994 despite plunging computer
prices.
``Even when holding income constant, there is still a yawning divide among
different races and origins,'' the report said, warning of a society in which ``the
'haves' have only become more information-rich ... while the 'have-nots' are lagging even
further behind.''
But the government survey also found, predictably, that as income rises, the
likelihood of PC ownership and Internet use also rises. Families with incomes above
$75,000 were more than five times as likely to own a computer at home and 10 times more
likely to have Internet access than families who earned less than $10,000. And the
gaps in computer ownership and Internet use narrowed between white families and blacks and
Hispanics earning more than $50,000.
``There is a way to buy your way out,'' said Irving, adding that falling
computer prices will continue to help. ``Above $75,000, there is almost no gap between
blacks and whites.'' Other key findings:
- About 47 percent of all whites own computers, but fewer than half as many
blacks do. About 25.5 percent of Hispanics own computers, but fully 55 percent of Asians
do. Asian families also are most likely to have Internet access, with 36 percent online.
- A child in a low-income white family is three times more likely to have
Internet access as a child in a comparable black family and four times more likely than a
Hispanic child.
- People with college degrees are more than eight times more likely to own a
computer and 16 times more likely to have Internet access than people with elementary
school educations. The report, the third such survey by the government since 1995,
did not suggest specific ways to encourage Internet use or computer ownership except to
recommend continuing to provide online access at community centers, such as schools,
libraries and other facilities.
``It allows minorities to come into an area that's populated by themselves and
learn how to use the technology,'' agreed Willie Atterberry, chairman of the AfroNet Web
site and magazine in Los Angeles. ``You don't have to worry about going to Silicon
Valley. It comes to you.''
Ameritech Corp. and the National Urban League announced today they will spend
$350,000 to build five new Internet community centers in Aurora, Ill., Cleveland, Detroit,
Indianapolis and Milwaukee. And 3Com Corp. said it will spend $1 million in donated
equipment and training to 10 cities to help teach students to be computer network
engineers.
``In the information age, there cannot be two separate societies,'' said Milton
Little of the Urban League. Some industry experts suggested that minorities might
also be discouraged by computers and the Internet as difficult to learn, or at least
consider the Web a medium whose benefits haven't been sufficiently explained.
``I really don't think the advantage of being online has been instilled in
them,'' said Trevor Farrington, a director at the Massachusetts-based African American
Internetwork, a Web site aimed at blacks. ``Online banking, investing - that's hotter than
pornographic sites now but it's not being driven home among African Americans.
``I really don't think they understand it,'' Farrington said. ``They
think it's too technical, (but) it's as easy to use as TV and it's better. Once they
understand that, it should grow.''
