Post by Chronicle News on Oct 25, 2004 5:39:08 GMT -5
CHRONICLENEWSRELEASE
CYBER-PROPHET CALLS BLACK BRITONS TO COMPUTER ACTION
Prof Abdul Alkalimat of the University of Toledo Africana Studies department brought his message of Black empowerment through information technology to a conference at city hall London, England during the October Black History Month celebrations.
Alkalimat is best known for "wiring up" Toledo's W J Murchison Community Center as an Internet hub of churches, schools and homes in Black communities. His campaign for universal sharing of information through computers, e-mail and chatrooms has gained him the soubriquet of "prophet of eBlack Studies".
His message struck home in Britain a nation where there is a poverty of knowledge about the lives and traditions of 1.1million Black Britons of African and Caribbean heritage. Most British ethnic groups are well-documented, among them Irish and Jewish people. But less is known of the positive role that Black people have played in shaping the history and economy of the country.
"The task is to gather all the material of the Black experience", Alkalimat told the audience at the meeting co-sponsored by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and the Chronicleworld internet news magazine on changing Black Britain (www.chronicleworld.org).
The themes requiring documentation are evident in the nation's capital where most Afro-Britons live and comprise more than 10 per cent of the city's population. These include politics and racism, social and cultural life, religion, sports and music. "The data can then be digitised and made available to everyone using communications technology, computers and the Internet," is Alkalimat's determined view.
"This is good news for Black Britannia," said conference organiser, Professor Thomas L Blair of ChronicleWorld. "Alkalimat's Internet projects bringing together people of colour through web pages, bulletin boards and blogs are highly innovative. They could prove to be useful models for linking Black Britons and the scattered groups of 10 million people of color in Europe."
CYBER-PROPHET CALLS BLACK BRITONS TO COMPUTER ACTION
Prof Abdul Alkalimat of the University of Toledo Africana Studies department brought his message of Black empowerment through information technology to a conference at city hall London, England during the October Black History Month celebrations.
Alkalimat is best known for "wiring up" Toledo's W J Murchison Community Center as an Internet hub of churches, schools and homes in Black communities. His campaign for universal sharing of information through computers, e-mail and chatrooms has gained him the soubriquet of "prophet of eBlack Studies".
His message struck home in Britain a nation where there is a poverty of knowledge about the lives and traditions of 1.1million Black Britons of African and Caribbean heritage. Most British ethnic groups are well-documented, among them Irish and Jewish people. But less is known of the positive role that Black people have played in shaping the history and economy of the country.
"The task is to gather all the material of the Black experience", Alkalimat told the audience at the meeting co-sponsored by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and the Chronicleworld internet news magazine on changing Black Britain (www.chronicleworld.org).
The themes requiring documentation are evident in the nation's capital where most Afro-Britons live and comprise more than 10 per cent of the city's population. These include politics and racism, social and cultural life, religion, sports and music. "The data can then be digitised and made available to everyone using communications technology, computers and the Internet," is Alkalimat's determined view.
"This is good news for Black Britannia," said conference organiser, Professor Thomas L Blair of ChronicleWorld. "Alkalimat's Internet projects bringing together people of colour through web pages, bulletin boards and blogs are highly innovative. They could prove to be useful models for linking Black Britons and the scattered groups of 10 million people of color in Europe."