Legacy and Chatman

By inquiring more about Elfreda A. Chatman, of the School of Information and Library Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; I discovered that social capital within black communities maybe permanently restricted because of cultural mistrust. During lecture, someone remarked how computer use was virtually nonexistent during the showing of the movie, Legacy. Does mistrust of white society translate into apathy or disrespect towards technology?

As Bishop et al wrote in Public Libraries and Networked Information Services, more library workstations, more neighborhood network connections, and personal posessions of computers must be accompanied by training. Only when familiarity with technology becomes equally transparent to all actors can America hope to survive in the global economy. As of 2009, Americans home computer use ranks 12th among industrial nations (just above a banana republic).

My initial thought was to find blame with government actors for not encouraging the use of computers for job search, housing, and education. Social service actors or educators did not suggest the advantage of utilizing Internet resources for personal and community growth to their clients. For instance, according to Google, in 2009, the Internet has over 1 trillion websites. A number of these websites most likely have dedicated topics that are of interest to the immediate concerns of the Legacy family. But not even the realtor encouaged her to use the internet for home purchases before she brought a home three years later.

After studying the reading ‘Understanding Digital Inequality’, I partially assumed that the stereotyped image, which presumes technology is too complicated for blacks, was the reason for the digital divide. Just maybe, officials did not feel professionally, socially or morally obligated to help bridge the racial ravine. This stereotypical fallacy made it easy for bureaucrats not to share practical and technical uses of the Internet. Then who is responsible for teaching how the Internet helps the population of low-income wage earners and struggling students stay abreast of on-line health care, on-line study groups, and news groups about parenting. Understanding Digital Inequality confirms a previous class reading. It provided statistics revealing how the small percentage of blacks who use the Internet use it for frivolous entertainment and religious propaganda. This theory of planned behavior (TPB) proves that without direct ICT experience of software and internet resources, poor individuals will not fully interact with information technology.


This theory challenges Internet activists who prove with this reading, and with the review of the Legacy movie, that bureaucratic actors ignore computer training opportunities to help motivate participants. Alas, the writers concur, government authorities should be the catalyst for initiating innovative ICT behavior. None of the organizations in the documentary had a systematic approach of entering the world of service workers (i.e. janitors), single mothers, and aging populations to increase computer capabilities among SED members.

Yes, Chatman is correct about the inclusiveness of underpaid, overworked, and underemployed community members. But I believe that self-efficacy is weakened from past and current disappointments with government entities. While illegal immigrants do not use the library for fear of government surveillance, American blacks have the same inhibitions about non-governmental agencies and government agencies sharing of private information. The secrecy and deception of government continues in the 21st century about 19th century entitlements. Only other race lied and cheated to is Native Americans. They and Japanese Americans have experienced first hand the nefarious intentions of U.S. government policies. The Supreme Court is again trying to weaken Civil War won laws about equal employment, fair housing, and quality education. Will this same court also conclude that the digital divide is a figment of a liberal’s imagination of deep-rooted barriers to information for the poor?

The reclusive blacks that voluntarily segregate themselves from the dominant society on the Internet is due to the institutionally accepted shameful hindrance of their racial identity and the psychological disabilities associated with SED. Their hedonistic use of the Internet is because software game manufacturers are committed to the profits from consumer satisfaction. Marketing and advertisements readily accompany on-line support and continued product upgrades. Unfortunately, government does not apply these materialistic values to teaching an informed citizenry about democratic opportunities available from the World Wide Web. And as we have learned about bridging social capital, the impoverished underprivileged will continue to live in a Tocqueville cocoon until they choose, with government guidance, to cross racial and class divisions by using the Internet.

In conclusion, I believe the heritable phenotypes of blacks could have been supplemented with an ethnic Internet environment incorporated from clothing styles, types of music, literature, and religion. The information world of poor people requires civic engagement and political participation in the 21st century. Legacy is empirical example of a culture that will die, unless it’s people have the courage to change.