Making A Case For A Black Silicon Valley

As I was watching PBS's American Experience and the name of the title is called Silicon Valley and it was an excellent documentary. I got a question for black or brown people in the information technology field how come you are not making your own version of Silicon Valley and striving for ownership. You see the picture above these are eight of the best and brightest engineers of the 1950s of Silicon Valley and these guys had the balls to defect from their company Shockley Semiconductor Company to form their own company for economic ownership for themselves and their families. What I have learned from the documentary was strive for economic ownership and take the risks to achieved that goal.


My message for black and brown techies strive for economic ownership and create your own tech start ups and that way you will have economic freedom and peace of mind without office politics and job drama in the workforce. What if Black and Brown Americans formed their own version Silicon Valley across America and hire people from economic depress neighborhood for good and well paying jobs with benefits. That way with a black Silicon Valley you can get a lot of young black and brown males off the streets and away from gang life. If you give them a good paying job they will be so tired after work they will not that time to be on the corners slanging dope and killing each other. With the rise of black tech companies our unemployment rate will decrease in numbers and we see a lot of brothas and sistas being productive and contributing to the overall economy. Why are we fearful of forming our own tech corporations and firms to compete in the global tech economy?

Look I know its a scary thought by becoming economic independent and taking ownership of your tech companies, but look at the above picture of those 8 engineers and scientists. They could have stay at Shockley Semiconductor Company and earned an great paycheck, but they took at chance at the unknown and look at them now they are wealthy beyond they wildest dreams and owning their own company and taking control of their economic destiny in their hands. I know that racism and prejudice exists here in America as a people of color, but at some point you got to leave the corporate plantation behind for a better economic opportunity and future. Plus, are you tired of hearing at your job some of your co-workers saying N-word and racist jokes all the time and treated you like the token black and brown person via stereotypes and you have to play the non-threatening role all the time with a fake smile.Plus are you tired of living to paycheck to paycheck and playing that silly ole office gossip at work everyday of the week and knowing your boss can laid you off without second thought when he or she deem you expandable? We got a lot of young and tech savvy Black and Brown Americans now if we can put our resources together then one day in the future we will that black and brown Silicon Valley in our lifetimes and something we can pass on to our children,grandchildren,great grandchildren for generations to come. I cannot wait for that day to come in the near future come guys lets do it or do you want to be in the status quo like the establishment wants to be and living in the 'hood' across America with no future see image on below life or a strong black and brown tech professionals see below right.

I am John,"Tech Head" McSwain signing off and my next blog will be about drones. Take care and read my blogs on Cyber_Brotha thank you signing off.

Here is the link to the documentary on PBS American Experience Silicon Valley
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/player/