DC Days: From The DNC To The CBC And Back

An article by Navarrow    View Comments

Last week was the annual Congressional Black Caucus Conference in DC. There were a whole list of events going on both day and night. I participated in two events that left me with some interesting insights. The first was held at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. It was a round table discussion between the  committee chairman , Gov. Tim Kaine and African American Bloggers. The topics ranged from  how African American Bloggers can help get the word out to how African Americans have not been engaged since the presidential election. What was truly interesting was that everyone could admit that the presidential campaign’s use of the internet and social media was one the key things that set it apart but smaller elections that have happened since then have not capitalized on it. I know that the recent Governer’s race here in NJ was a clear case of that.  If the democratic party is make any headway in the upcoming midterm elections then the campaigns have to embrace the power of the internet and how it can help connect people to their cause and be the spring board for more active use  of online tools by their constituents after the election is over.

That is a great segway to my second stop in DC during the week. On Friday I participated in a panel called Government 2.0 which was sponsored by Majority Whip James Clyburn. We discussed  the importance of the use of broadband as a channel for elected officials to connect with the people. A great example of how we are moving in that direction was the fact that Mr. Clyburn himself was toting an Ipad and mentioned during hid open remarks that he had recently joined twitter. I spoke about the elected officials could give more minorities and additional incentive to get online and adopt broadband in the home if they felt it gave them a direct link to their elected officials. By the end of panel the whole room had learned more about the opportunities that exist for them right now. Ironically enough the discussion of net neutrality did not come up except for one woman commenting that she didn’t really see why it was a focus right now instead of the national broadband plan given our current needs.  Which proves what i have been saying for a while now that if you educate people on all the issues they will clearly see where our energy should be spent and what will have a true impact on the minority community which is Broadband adoption, education and literacy.