Academic Expert Says Internet Has Become a Vital Utility
Internet access touches every aspect of day-to-day life, from applying for jobs or to schools and seeking medical information to doing the required work for school or a career, one professor says.
May 10, 2021 •
Shutterstock (TNS) Joshua Wells, a professor at Indiana University South Bend, recalled standing at a Walmart looking for a specific pair of work boots. He said he knew the store carried the boot in his size because he used the company website to confirm.
As he looked for the size he needed, Wells said a man entered the aisle looking for a pair of boots. Wells told the man that he could use the Walmart website to search which store has the boots he wants in his size.
As a historian and as a human being who cares about social justice, I write in support of the April 24 Viewpoint endorsing House Resolution 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act.
In addition to the failure to provide â40 acres and a muleâ after slavery, the effects of systemic racism are much more recent. I can see clearly the points in my white immigrant grandparentsâ and parentsâ lives when the real estate assets they obtained in the 1950s would not have been possible for African Americans because of redlining.
I grew up in a Florida town, with rising real estate value in which no Black person was welcome after sundown, much less able to run a small motel, as my parents did. This real estate has meant a cushion of inheritance, passed on to me. National reparations could make a difference in the wealth gap that makes life much harder for African Americans, regardless of education, hard work or income.
Internet access should be considered utility, greater access improves quality of life, experts say chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vol 82, No 5 (2021)
May
This month’s cover features an image of women’s studies pioneer Gloria Kaufman speaking at a teach-in on the lawn between Northside and Greenlawn Halls on the Indiana University-South Bend (IUSB) campus in May 1970. The event was part of a week of protest activity against the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia organized by the IUSB Coalition for Peace. Teach-in topics included draft resistance and the history of Cambodia, the Unites States, and Southeast Asia. The vent also featured guerilla theater, a rock concert, and a march in downtown South Bend.
The image is part of the Gloria Kaufman Papers held by the IUSB Archives and Special Collections. Learn more about Kaufman and the collection at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/gloria-kaufman-papers/.