AMERICA’S MINORITY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES MUST EMBRACE DEFENSE SPENDING TO ENSURE EVERY COMMUNITY PARTICIPATES IN THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY

There is a direct link between Defense research spending, jobs, and wealth. The Emerging Technology Consortium proposes a plan to address income inequality by ensuring that every community incorporates defense spending as part of its strategy.  Blacks have served in every war since the inception of this country. Since President Harry Truman integrated the military in 1948, the Department of Defense has provided opportunities for African Americans to showcase their talents and skills. The military has provided the most significant economic gains for the Black community.    Technology has changed warfare, where machines will perform many functions that people in the past performed; this will require technology-trained combatants and a new generation of people to support them.

Here is what government (Defense)spending can do for the Black Community:

• Place real companies with real jobs in predominantly Black and Brown underserved communities, as manufacturing returns to this country

•             Provide training, scholarships, internships, and placements for 500,000 Black individuals in Federal STEM jobs in the next ten years – i.e., Air Traffic Controllers shortage

•             Increase Black and minority ownership of manufacturing and next-generation industries in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Quantum Sciences, etc.

This can be achieved through the creation of a public-private partnership, leveraging Federal investments from existing legislation.

Comments