Since Christmas I’ve been working on a little side project and as I was doing some social media research I came across a FaceBook post citing, “Why can’t we (black people) ever create anything new, why does it always have to be the white version of something?”. I paused and I began typing to explain innovation and how nothing is actually new, things and ideas are merely innovations of what we may have used or done in the past but as we learn more or technology is added they become more efficient. Innovation does not occur as a construct with race in mind. I was very upset at the implication that people of color aren’t efficient innovators like all we had was peanut butter and stop lights going for us but I’ve been growing so I deleted it all and decided to write this little note. If that’s your line of thought then let me proceed to educate you that more often than not, some of the greatest innovations are actually “white versions of black (and POC) stuff”.
Facebook is the “White Version” of BlackPlanet
Long before Mark Zuckerburg was creating “Facemash” in 2003 to compare “hot or not” (I still think it was sexist) BlackPlanet was in its 4th year of operation. Omar Wasow and Benjamin Sun dreamed this social networking site up from a living room in Brooklyn. Instead of “hot or not”, BlackPlanet was actually a tool for “matchmaking and job postings”. It was not a site that omitted “non-black” people, to the contrary it was geared more towards level setting and ensuring social networking was inclusive before inclusion was an issue. BlackPlanet is the grandfather of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, although Facebook would never admit it the guys who started Myspace were quoted in Business Week magazine saying that they looked at BlackPlanet as a model for Myspace and thought there was an opportunity to do a general market version of what BlackPlanet was at that time. At the peak, BlackPlanet had 16.5 million members in 2007 and was the largest online media options for African-Americans.
Uber/Lyft is the “White Version” of the Jitney
Tru Tru in Ghana, Robots in Jamaica, TapTap in Haiti, Taxi Pirata in Mexico, the list literally goes on and on. Visiting other countries, you see these vehicles in passing, one 16 passenger minivan stuffed with 30 people going from one neighborhood to framing fields or mines to work. Out of necessity breads innovation and since the dawn of man someone, somewhere has always needed a ride. The problem with most of these unofficial taxi services is the same problem with Uber and Lyft, you can’t regulate them and it upsets Taxi Unions. The largest difference is that Uber and Lyft has the technology, validates insurances and there is support (financial) that is available to them. Jitney cabs operate so similarly to Uber/Lyft, where do you think those Lyft Lanes came from? In cultural circles, you know where and when to catch a ride, how much it will cost and in the event your normal ride is out of commission they have already made arrangements from a sub.
Here's a great article about how the Jitney Cab was used in Chicago back in the 60's and 70's.
GoFundMe and Crowdsourcing is the “White Version” of a SuSu
“You get as good as you give” is the the loose translation but in all actuality Sou-Sous are the first Start-Up Fundraising, GoFundMe and Crowdsourcing at its foundation. Yes, demonized because “it sounds like a scam” but for years this is how people of color started businesses, paid for homes and created villages, moved entire families to the United States. The problem with Sou-Sous is the same problem with any StartUp investment, it may fail, it’s based on the honor system. These constructs are only as good as the organizer because it’s all based on the honor system. Claimed by West Africa, sou-sou comes from a Yoruban word “esusu” or the French word “sou”, no one really knows but we do know that the French colonized there to teach Christianity *wink*.
CoWorking is a great example, have you ever noticed a home with 20 people of South Asian or Hispanic descent in it and they all work at a business they own? Yes, that means AirBNB is not new either, it’s a youth hostel and they were popular in early German and but mainly in South African cultures. Honestly, I could go on and on....I’m going to say what I always say, representation in tech is vital, a lot of these innovations technically did not evolve probably because there were no POC to expand them.
This is most certainly not a slight against anyone but the validation for POC's that innovation and invention is rooted deep in the fiber of who you are.
Listening to:
New York Strait Talk
Gang Starr
Moment of Truth
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