 Good afternoon. If there were enough of our boys and Boy Scouts interested in wireless They could erect a wireless station at the park Let us try and get together in form and up-to-date radio club in our city I'll be more than pleased to help This was the message that Roland Carrington sent to African-American Boy Scout troops, which was published in the newspaper the African-American Carrington wasn't talking about smartphones or cell phones. He was talking about radio The year was 1917 It was a full decade before Congress created the Frito radio Commission Which gave the government the power for the first time to regulate radio? It was before big corporations would come to understand the commercial potential radio and seize control of the industry Just like the development of the internet Amateurs played a key role in developing radio and from the get-go African-Americans and Latinos were very much embrace this new medium Radio clubs in African-American communities across the country were formed over the next decade like the Woodland radio association in Chicago the Bannaker radio club in Baltimore in San Antonio John C. Rodriguez received a license to operate an amateur radio station in 1916 But by 1922 he launched the second commercial radio station in San Antonio What's extraordinary about this is that history has generally credited a man credited a man named Raul Cortez will be in the first person of color to own a broadcast station in 1946 But Rodriguez seemed to have bested him by 24 years What I'm trying to say is that people of color have always embraced media the first Spanish-language newspaper was published in 1808 the first African-American newspaper in 1827 freedoms journal and the Native American first paper was in 1828 So how could it be that people of color was shut off from owning any broadcast stations for decades? after the federal government began regulating radio for the first time in 1927 and How can it be that the first series effort to bolster minority ownership did not occur into the 1970s? And why do people of color today own so few broadcast stations when we make up close to 40% of the population? To understand this question is to understand that there is nothing new about the fight for a just media system It is why we are here today to celebrate the launching of black voices for internet freedom Because throughout history whenever technology emerges it fundamentally changes the existing media system Leading to the creation of new industries such as the telegraph radio TV cable and now the internet But whenever this happens our government is faced with a critical decision Does it regulate the new emerging industry to allow for the greatest number of voices to participate? Or does it turn over control to the hands of a few? Historically the government has chosen to centralize control of media in the hands of a few which has historically harmed communities of color It has prevented people of color from owning media outlets Placing a handful of gatekeepers in control of whose voices have the right to speak and whose voices have the right to be heard It cements a white racial narrative since our communities have so little control over how we are depicted in the media Because when others tell our stories, they often get it wrong which causes us great harm This is why it's critical that we learn from the past to understand what has happened in today In 1927 when the federal radio Commission regulated it at airways for the first time It turned over control of the most desirable stations to NBC and CBS Non-commercial stations were pushed off the dial and not a single person of color owned the commercial outlet The most popular program on the air was Amos and Andy a blackface minstrel show that aired on NBC Half of our nation's radio audience turned in every night tuned in every night to listen to white actors betraying African-Americans as simple simple-minded platoons in 1931 Robert Van Publisher the Pittsburgh Courier one of the largest African-American papers in the country Became so offended by the program that he launched a campaign to get the show off the air The courier started a petition drive that called on the federal radio commission to hold the hearing to determine Whether Amos and Andy should be kicked off the dial The paper collected more than 740 thousand petitions from readers across the country An amazing figure considered when when there were only 10 million African-Americans living in the nation The campaign by the courier was perhaps the first black led nationwide movement to challenge racial bigotry in America's mass media But for the frc the frc simply dismissed the petitioners a hearing was never held This is why we need black voices for internet freedom and latino voices for internet freedom to make sure our voices of everyday people In our community are heard and cannot be dismissed by the FCC congress or the obama administration We have to provide to prevent history from repeating itself and prevent government from allowing 18 team comcast And Verizon to to orchestrate a corporate takeover of the internet We need a decentralized open communications network that allows the greatest number of voices our voices to participate We need to be able to tell our own stories What mean of latinos have been able to take to the streets in 2006 to fight for a just immigration system Without an open internet what we have heard of the extraordinary efforts to prevent the execution of troi davis without an open internet So welcome black voices internet freedom to the struggle And thank you for starting a new chapter in the community's long history of fighting for a just media system Thank you