Broadband Gap in America: A Racial Divide Unveiled
In early March, Karen Kama rose before dawn to distribute leaflets throughout her community. Her aim was to inform residents about an initiative at her nearby library. Reading, Pennsylvania This assists individuals in learning how to utilize the internet.
In Reading, two out of every three inhabitants are Hispanic. So Kama's flyers feature one side in Spanish and the opposite side in English.
It was only one year ago that Kama started using the internet herself. She described for me a whole world opening up to her: using Google to translate conversations with her Spanish-speaking neighbor, playing games to keep her brain sharp and looking up test results from her doctor. But she said the best part has been showing people in her community what the internet can do for them.
“I’m incredibly thankful for this opportunity because now I have the chance to teach someone else,” she stated. “I’m delighted to demonstrate my capabilities to others.”
Kama is one of the millions of Black Americans who have been impacted by the digital divide, the gulf between people who have access to any internet at all and those who don't. For as long as the internet's been around, people of color have been more likely than their white counterparts to fall on the wrong side of this divide.
The Pew Research Center has asked US adults about In what ways do they utilize the internet? Since 2000, each survey has indicated that Black and Hispanic Americans trail behind White respondents.
Internet connectivity acts as an amplifier. It greatly enhances health outcomes , increases employment rates and even boosts our psychological well-being .
"I jokingly say that whenever you present me with an issue, I can explain how internet connectivity affects it," she mentioned. Claudia Ruiz a senior analyst at UnidosUS, a civil rights group.
The flip side of that coin is that people without it -- a group that is disproportionately Black, Hispanic and Native American -- experience all those effects in the opposite direction.
To enjoy the advantages of the internet, you require three elements: an accessible connection at your location, the financial capability to cover it, and the necessary skills to utilize it effectively. Each scenario differs; however, during my seven-year coverage of the broadband sector, I discovered that these criteria frequently remain unmet within minority groups.
"As access to the internet is a key factor in determining overall well-being, it enhances the quality of life and leads to various economic and social benefits for communities," he stated. Nicol Turner Lee a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
What does the term racial digital divide refer to?
Many statistics are available for examining how various demographics utilize the internet; however, the primary resource recommended by the scholars I consulted was the Pew Research Center.
In the latest survey conducted by Pew in June 2024, 83% of white participants reported having a subscription to home internet, which matches the rate among both Black and Hispanic adults at 73%. It’s worth noting that Native Americans were not part of this particular Pew study. US Census Bureau data have them at comparable adoption rates to Black Americans.)
A McKinsey analysis The analysis of census data revealed that the disparity was more pronounced in certain areas: Black households experienced this more widely. Chicago and Baltimore For example, they are two times more likely than their White counterparts to not have a high-speed internet subscription.
To a significant degree, the racial gap serves as an indicator of the income disparity, which is the primary factor influencing broadband uptake."The study of this issue spans the entire nation, with consistent outcomes showing that Black and Latino populations consistently fall short when it comes to access to broadband and devices," he stated. Drew Garner , a director of policy engagement at the nonprofit Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.
The causes of the disparity are complex, but we can begin with finances. As per recent information, Federal Reserve data indicates that for each $100 in wealth possessed by white families, Black families have just $16, and Hispanic families possess $22.
"The gap between races largely serves as an indicator of the division in income levels, which ultimately determines access to broadband," he stated. Alisa Valentin Broadband Policy Director at the non-profit organization Public Knowledge, which advocates digitally.
That tracks with Pew's survey results, which show that 92% of Americans making over $100,000 have home internet, compared with 57% who make less than $30,000.
These numbers paint a simple picture: Poor people can't afford internet access, and poor people are disproportionately Black and Hispanic in the US. But to get a better view, you have to go back to the 1930s.
Digital redlining: Why certain communities are being overlooked
The concept of redlining originated during the New Deal era with the establishment of the Federal Housing Administration in 1934, which offered insurance to protect against financial loss. mortgages With assistance from real estate agents, the government worked alongside private lenders. color-coded maps To order neighborhoods from lowest to highest risk based on their loanworthiness. Coincidently, these areas were labeled as “highest risk” when predominantly inhabited by Black residents, which essentially prevented them from obtaining loans.
The practice was outlawed with the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968; however, the harm had already been inflicted by that point. 2022 FiveThirtyEight analysis of 138 metropolitan areas found that "nearly all formerly redlined zones in the country are still disproportionately Black, Latino or Asian."
How does this relate to internet accessibility? Choose any city across the nation. When you overlay a map highlighting historically redlined districts onto another indicating broadband speeds, you'll probably notice a consistent trend: quicker connection speeds in regions marked as "lowest risk," and comparatively slower speeds in formerly redlined zones.
This practice has been extensively detailed elsewhere, thus it barely requires repetition here. Los Angeles , Cleveland , Dallas , Philadelphia , New York and Oakland, California Researchers discovered reduced velocities in less affluent areas.
The harshest evidence was presented in a 2022 report jointly published by The Markup along with the Associated Press The analysis examined 800,000 broadband service offerings across 38 U.S. cities. They found that in approximately two-thirds of these locations, with sufficient data for comparison, internet companies provided inferior plans to areas with lower white populations.
"I don't think it's a case of executives at AT&T sitting in smoke-filled rooms conspiring about how to not build infrastructure in mostly Black and brown neighborhoods," said Sean Gonsalvez He serves as a communications director at the advocacy organization The Institute for Local Self-Reliance. According to him, internet service providers often do not find sufficient economic motivation to construct network infrastructures in such areas. Recently, AT&T has been an example of this trend. scrapped its wireless internet initiatives in New York In reaction to a state legislation mandating Internet Service Providers to provide low-income individuals with plans priced at $15 per month.
AT&T is committed to addressing the national digital gap," said a representative from the company in a press release. "While broadening high-speed internet accessibility, we take various elements into account such as expenses, rival services, and user needs. We firmly deny any claims that we engage in discriminatory practices regarding internet provision.
Barriers to homeownership created wealth disparities Wealth inequalities led to these redlined communities being at the end of the queue when it came to receiving advanced technologies such as fiber optic connections, which are regarded as "the gold standard" for internet access, as stated by Cornell. rural planning researchers .
Is this an issue of systemic racism? Yes, definitely. The intention behind it is a separate discussion. In numerous instances, I believe it likely was deliberate.However, it might be overly simplistic to claim that income alone dictates where broadband infrastructure gets developed. study of Los Angeles County From 2014 to 2018, USC researchers examined the deployment of fiber optics.
"Income was the main driver of the disparities, but even after controlling for income, we did find a significant racial disparity in some areas lagging behind fiber deployment," said Hernan Galperin , a professor at USC who was also one of the study’s co-authors.
Cid Espinal , working at the Reading Public Library in Pennsylvania teaching senior citizens about digital literacy, has witnessed these discrepancies personally. A study from 2024, featured in the Annual Review of Sociology determined that the city of Reading had the highest segregation rate between white people and Latinos of any city in the country.
"You're literally crossing the bridge. Here, on one side of the bridge, is strictly Comcast. The moment you cross the bridge, you have access to FastBridge Fiber," he said.
The FCC's broadband map Indicates that less than 1% of residences in Reading have access to fiber, whereas 41% of households in the neighboring town of Wyomissing, which lies just across the Schuylkill River, do. This disparity doesn’t imply that residents of Reading cannot enjoy high-speed internet—Comcast provides download rates as high as 2,100 megabits per second within certain areas of the city—but it does highlight the absence of competitive alternatives.
"Comcast has a tight grip on this city. Since there are no rivals, they have the freedom to set their own prices as high as possible," Espinal stated.
In Reading, Comcast’s rates begin at around $35 monthly; however, this price can rise dramatically to about $83 within two years for the same service package. Given that there is effectively only one major provider in the area, customers face limited choices: attempt to renegotiate terms, discontinue their services altogether, or agree to pay more.
"We offer low-cost Internet options like Internet Essentials for $14.95 and prepaid NOW Internet for $30, and a variety of other speed tiers, that cater to every household and budget in Reading and nationwide," a Comcast spokesperson told a statement. "We encourage our customers to contact us when their promotional period ends, so we can find an Internet plan that meets their needs."
The FCC created digital discrimination rules, but they haven't been implemented
"Is it systemic racism? Yeah, obviously it is," said Andy Stutzman , executive director at the nonprofit Next Century Cities. "Whether it was intentional or not is another question. I think in many places, it probably was."
This query regarding intent in digital redlining has sparked considerable discussion. In 2023, the Federal Communications Commission ruled That intention doesn’t have to be claimed for digital discrimination; it’s only necessary to show behavior that leads to disparities based on factors such as income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin.
Christopher Ali, a communications studies professor at Pennsylvania State University and a member of the FCC committee involved in drafting these regulations, stated: "The aim was to gain clearer insights into and perhaps delineate exactly what constitutes digital discrimination. The Federal Communications Commission characterized this issue as encompassing both overt and covert discriminatory practices; such characterization was not welcomed by internet service providers."
It would be extremely challenging to demonstrate that internet service providers directly Discrimination targeting minority groups exists, but indirect discrimination presents a different scenario.
“You didn’t need to demonstrate that AT&T was racist,” Garner stated. “It was enough to show that the impact of their network architecture unfairly harmed racial minority groups.”
The FCC implemented these regulations in November 2023 and was promptly taken to court by the US Chamber of Commerce and Two telecommunications sector advocacy organizations Currently, these regulations are facing legal challenges, and industry insiders anticipate that President Trump’s FCC will not step in to defend them. (The FCC has yet to provide any comments on this matter.)
They have not actually been put into place yet," Stutzman stated. "I believed we were heading toward a more promising future. However, that isn’t exactly what we’re witnessing right now.
Countryside isn't always synonymous with white
When discussing the broadband gap, rural regions often receive the majority of focus (along with financial support). Consider the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, which is a $42.5 billion fund established as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act from 2021.
"The concept behind BEAD has always been to increase the number of choices available to individuals from none to at least some. It was never about moving from having one option to having two," explained Bill Callahan, who leads the nonprofit organization Connect Your Community.
BEAD prioritized fiber as often as possible, with an exception for sparsely populated areas where fiber would be prohibitively expensive to build. (I recently reported on how this fiber preference is beginning to shift under the Trump administration , which is expected to shift BEAD's rules to favor satellite options like Elon Musk's Starlink .)
"Historically, when we were talking about issues related to the digital divide, I was hearing it more so as 'digital divide equals rural issue,' and then folks would say rural equates to white. And that's not true," Valentin said.
According to the 2020 census, nearly 14 million rural Americans labeled as Black, Hispanic or Latino, Native American, Asian, or multiracial -- a group that exceeds the total population of both New York City and Los Angeles combined.
A study published in 2021 from the Center for Political and Economic Studies Joint discovered that 38% of Black Americans in the Black Rural South did not have home internet access, as opposed to 23% of White Americans in the same area and 22% of Black Americans across the nation.
Even when it is available, it's often much slower. The report notes that 36.6% of all American households don't use the internet at speeds of at least 25Mbps download -- the FCC's minimum definition for broadband at the time -- compared with 72.6% in the Black Rural South. Last year, the FCC quadrupled the broadband threshold up to 100 Mbps downloads to cater to the increased demands of Americans for high-speed internet.
To put it differently, the disparity in access to broadband internet along racial lines isn’t confined to rural regions; in fact, this divide can be even more pronounced in certain rural areas compared to urban ones.
Cost-effectiveness poses a greater obstacle for the majority of individuals.
High-speed internet access has been denied to numerous minority communities due to digital redlining; however, the expense associated with obtaining a connection poses an even greater obstacle for the majority of individuals.
A 2021 Pew Research Center survey discovered that one out of every five individuals without home internet mentioned cost as the primary reason, which was the most frequent response and significantly higher than those stating service wasn’t accessible. Another study discovered that "for each American lacking access to broadband services, an additional number of people, potentially double that amount, have access but choose not to subscribe."
The top reason we get from our community for why people aren’t embracing broadband is the expense.As people in this field often express, Gonsalvez noted, "If it’s not affordable, then it’s not really accessible."
For many years, most of the federal funds designated for broadband have been used to build out infrastructure. In contrast, only a small portion has been allocated to assist individuals. afford once an internet connection has been established.
The shift began during the COVID-19 pandemic when Congress implemented the Emergency Broadband Benefit aimed at assisting low-income households maintain their internet connections. Early in 2022, this program evolved into a more permanent initiative. Affordable Connectivity Program .
"The ACP program truly made a difference for me," stated Dorothy Burrell, who works as a digital navigator at the Kansas City nonprofit organization Essential Families.
The ACP provided $30 monthly to anyone making below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, or $60,000 for a family of four. By the time the $14.2 billion program ran out of money in May 2024, more than 23 million households had enrolled.
According to a (since-deleted) White House fact sheet In the ACP program, one in every four participating households was Black, another quarter was Latino, and almost half consisted of military families. Additionally, the program included 4 million seniors and 10 million individuals aged 50 and above.
The top reason cited by our community as to why people aren’t embracing broadband is affordability,” stated Daiquiri Ryan Mercado, who serves as the strategic legal advisor and policy counsel for the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
Digital literacy and tools
In addition to being able to obtain and pay for an internet connection, you must have the necessary tools to utilize it. Without these tools, it’s akin to having food in front of you but lacking the implements needed to consume it.
The data shows that the digital divide is just as strong on the device end. According to a 2021 Pew survey , eight in 10 white adults own a desktop or laptop computer, compared with 69% of Black adults and 67% of Hispanic adults.
Moreover, 22% of Hispanics and 19% of African American adults rely solely on smartphones for connectivity as they do not have home internet access, unlike 12% of Caucasian adults who depend only on their smartphones.
"Applying for a scholarship or a job on a mobile phone is extremely difficult," Mercado stated.
Several organizations striving to bridge the digital gap offer free or reduced-cost equipment, and certain options providers like T-Mobile will provide students with a laptop or tablet at cost. Editor Josh Goldman additionally suggests purchasing a used or refurbished laptop.
Goldman mentioned that sites like BackMarket and eBay Refurbished offer significantly discounted laptops from certified refurbishment programs, often backed by a standard one-year guarantee.
In addition to providing the devices, numerous underprivileged communities lack the necessary skills to utilize them effectively. To address this, Essential Families collaborated with T-Mobile to provide individuals below 150% of the poverty line with affordable internet packages and gadgets, along with an introductory two-hour workshop.
Dorothy Burrell began her journey as a participant in the program but has evolved into a digital navigator. She now instructs others within the program on how to utilize their latest gadgets.
“I shared with them that I was once in their position,” Burrell stated. “And that tends to instill some hope that they too can manage this.”
Lynette White, a 77-year-old from San Francisco, mentioned to me that African Americans tend to be more reserved in her digital skills courses offered by the nonprofit organization. Community Tech Network .
"It has a lot to do with their pride," she said. "They don't want people to know that they don't know."
Nicol Turner Lee, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told me that it's important not to teach minority communities outdated digital literacy tools.
As she explained, this frequently occurs within economies where digital literacy is linked to racial stereotypes and clichés. Specifically, low-income Black individuals tend to be typecast as though they have no knowledge of how to operate a computer.
Actually, we should also focus on providing digital literacy training in ways that help them safeguard themselves. online privacy ."
Sprinting ahead when so many of us haven't even started walking
When I inquired of Burrell if she would ever contemplate cancelling her internet connection, she appeared stunned at my question.
"No way. No way. It’s essential for you. The internet is necessary regardless of circumstances,” she stated firmly. “While I could skip out on getting my nails done, going without the internet isn’t an option.”
Phyllis Jackson, a retired administrative assistant in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, gave me the same answer.
She exclaimed, 'I simply cannot function without it. ’ She continued, ‘Whatever it takes—I’ll cut back on meals or heating or anything else. Since it’s absolutely essential. Living solo, my computer is practically my only companion.'
In the end, the broadband gap isn’t some independent entity with its own will — it’s a consequence of the decisions we’ve made as a nation. These choices not only lag behind in keeping up with various ethnic communities.
“ Equity isn’t solely about racial equity,” stated Valentin. “ We’re discussing rural areas, low-income populations, veterans, communities of color — among others — and how these various aspects overlap.”
It can be challenging to grasp. While OpenAI constructs data centers that together would collectively use more electrical power than all households in Massachusetts combined , 21% of Americans do not possess a high-speed internet connection to use the tools it produces.
"We're sprinting before so many of us can even walk," said Claudia Ruiz, the civil rights analyst at UnidosUS. "We're all so focused on what AI can bring, on how AI is going to revolutionize everything. But we still haven't even dealt with the basic gaps of digital connectivity."
Several of the experts I spoke with for this article recommended contacting your representatives and letting them know that the digital divide is a top concern. You can find the contact information for your senators and representatives by entering your address on Congress' website .
"If constituents come to their members and say, 'This is something that impacts us,' I think at least it will give them pause," said Mercado.
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