Speech: MMTC Broadband and Social Justice Summit
Prepared Remarks of Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn
MMTC Broadband and Social Justice Summit
John H. Johnson School of Communications
Howard University
January 22, 2010
Thank you, Commissioner, for that kind introduction. As always, it is an honor to share the same “stage” with you. I appreciate being afforded this opportunity to join you and one hundred or so of our closest friends here at Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications for MMTC’s Broadband and Social Justice Summit. David Honig and the good folks at MMTC selected an ideal venue for this exchange. Today we are discussing an emerging technology in front of emerging professionals in the communications industry. Indeed, the fresh faces in the audience should serve as a reminder of the awesome responsibility we have to develop a broadband model that will endure for generations to come.
Before I begin, I want to acknowledge my friend Jane Cabarrus, who is the President of the Northampton County Branch of the NAACP and the unofficial “mayor” of Weirwood, Virginia. Weirwood is an African American community on Virginia’s Eastern Shore that lacks broadband service, and Jane has worked tirelessly to bring broadband to her community in order to establish a computer center for kids to use after school. We should all applaud Jane for her exemplary efforts.