I had an interesting conversation a few days ago with a good friend and colleague who does not see me as Black.  This conversation came about in light of Chris Matthews having forgotten  for an hour that President Obama was also Black.  Unlike Chris Matthews, she did not mean this as a compliment but simply as a statement of fact as to how she perceived me.  Now this is a good friend and someone that I have worked with on several projects over the years, but I still felt it necessary to explain to her why to me not seeing me as Black is not a very positive thing to me.  You see, for me, my being Black is a very positive aspect of my being.  I don’t associate any negative, only positive, with my Blackness.  To me it means that I have a cultural heritage that is varied, and unique.  I come from a line of people that have survived one of the most difficult trials in recent human history and have thrived on the other side of that trial of slavery.  My ancestors are also the creators of some of the earliest advanced human civilizations as well.  My being Black gives me a very deep and wide perspective of society so long as I focus on the positive aspects that are natural for me to focus upon when I think of Black.  Unfortunately, for most people it seems that when they think of Black they think of the negative imagery that much of mainstream media tends to put out.  This is a shame, because there is so much good in Black that I find it hard to see the negative.  Dr. King did not want us to forget the color of our skin, he wanted us all to look upon the content of people’s character - that does not mean that you deny the package that carries the character.

Blackbird is all about getting people, not just Black - we want everyone to use Blackbird - to understand that Black is a positive thing.  We want Chris Matthews to look at our President, remember that he is Black and take comfort that someone with such a deep cultural heritage has much to reflect upon to lead all of us as a nation.  There is no negative, only positive in that.

On January 15, 2010 the Soul of Technology Symposium took place in San Francisco. There was a relative small, but energetic turn out. The gathering was an impressive group of technology professionals. From Molecular Biologists to experts in Robotics the group spanned many fields. Pictured here is Dr. Andrew Williams, who is the head of the Computer Science department at Spelman College. The Spelman robotics team recently tied for first in an international robotics competition in Japan.

Monique Morris and John Templeton present award to Dr. Andrew Williams

Also, the founders of Blackbird were recognized at the event. Thank you to John.

One of the things that seemed to be clear during discussions at the event was that there are real issues disproportionately affecting the Black population in America, like the lack of jobs, access to education and rate of incarceration; and technology can play a role in helping to improve conditions for all and for a reduction in some of these disparities. In the area of communications and access to information, hopefully, Blackbird can play a role.

I sent this letter out to my Facebook friends a few nights ago and the response has been fantastic.  We’ve been working hard to add features and improve our technology and our marketing has only been by word of mouth.  The word of mouth is ready to be kicked up a notch now.  So, please, copy and paste the letter below and feel free to post it, send it and get the word out far and wide:

The creators of the Blackbird Browser need you to help Black people and others that are truly interested in expanding their worldview and knowledge base to find out that the tool for doing so is freely available – the Blackbird Browser. The Blackbird browser was started by three Black men who sincerely believe that America and the world can be made better by enabling, promoting and expanding the voices, ideas and dialogue of Black people throughout the world. Since its launch 11 months ago many have joined in this belief and downloaded the browser, but many, many more are needed. Over 250,000 people have downloaded Blackbird and the vast majority are still using it and discovering more of the Internet and their community than ever before, but more need to know about Blackbird and the freedom it promotes.

www.blackbirdbrowser.com

So many of our historically Black colleges, magazines and other media are currently struggling in this challenging economic environment. Some argue that it is because they are no longer necessary as we live in a post-racial environment now that there is a Black President of the US, but this is not the whole story. These institutions are struggling, not because the people no longer need them but because they have relied on the good graces of major non-Black owned institutions for advertising and support. This support is now leaving, as they no longer feel the public relations need to spend dollars with Black-owned or focused businesses and institutions. As a result Black businesses and institutions are in jeopardy and money is leaving our communities at a faster rate than ever. Post-racial seems to be translating to now-broke for many in the Black community.

The founders of Blackbird saw this coming and Blackbird is a tool to turn the tide for the better for Black communities and the nation as a whole. The position of Black people in society affects everyone, not just we who are Black. Blackbird promotes Black business, charitable organizations and drives traffic to web sites that cater to a Black point of view (and yes, there are many different Black points of view – Blackbird helps people to discover them all). There are many non-Black users of Blackbird and their eyes are opened to the many aspects of society that they would not otherwise see, and thus understanding is promoted. Blackbird does this all without limiting one’s experience of the Internet, rather it broadens the Internet that one experiences.

So, please let your friends, family, church, colleagues, everyone know about Blackbird at www.blackbirdbrowser.com and help to make understanding, communication and thriving Black business happen.

Blackbird – Discover More.

We are putting a survey on our Start Page to help us to find out what
the Blackbird community is thinking and so that we may better serve our
users. Now the company that we have found has the best enabling
technology has a name that is a new technology kind of silly name - it
is SurveyMonkey. The name unfortunately brings up a few recent “monkey”
issues that have been in the news recently.

I just want to go on record as saying that I feel that the entire name
calling debate is a distraction as I was raised to know who I am and
that was true regardless of what anyone decided to call me. So, for the
record, neither Black people are “monkeys” nor are any other group of
people “monkeys.” And those that choose to cast these aspersions are
simply stupid people with whom we, “thinking people”, need not be
concerned.

So, please, excuse the name of our survey company and let us know how
you feel and how we may improve Blackbird for you.

All the best,

Ed