This show originally aired Sept. 3, 2020.
Many in Charlotte and across the country lived in the digital divide long before the pandemic. Now, it has become “a national crisis.”
School systems raced to get laptops and tablets into students’ hands, but that’s only half the battle. As many as 17 million students across the country lack adequate internet connection. In Charlotte, 45,000 homes are without broadband internet – largely in communities of color, resulting in a “digital redlining.”
My latest project for @theobserver/@Report4America on Charlotte s digital divide. It has not deepened since the pandemic but it has made it an emergency.