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Albany, NY – February 28, 2024 – Yesterday, Senator James Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, hosted a public hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, NY, to address the issue of disparities in New York's banking industry and their impact on consumer and small business access to financial services. The hearing was convened by the Senate Banks Committee, with members Senator Brisport, Senator Cleare, Senator Kennedy, Senator Parker, and Ranking Member Senator Borrello, along with Senator Tedisco.
Senator Sanders opened the hearing by emphasizing the purpose of the hearing: to look on knowing about the problem only so that he can solve the problem. He is not interested in how we fell into a hole but far more interested in how to get out of the hole.
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| Cassaundra and Joko Brownell |
Column: Did You Know…About Black People?(™)
by Pierre A. Clark, Founder, Creative Services Multimedia LLC
Founder/Convenor, Digital Excellence Consortium, Inc.
Managing Partner: NuFutures Development Ventures LLC
As we come to the conclusion of this Black History Month, we continue to rightly celebrate the achievements and contributions of black people in areas of life from sports and entertainment to culture, literature, science and many other areas. But there are areas to which we have and continue to make profound contributions that are not spotlighted as much but should be.
How many of you, for example, know about the profound connection of the creation, development and proliferation of the technology tools we use every day to the creative efforts and entrepreneurialism of black people?
Did you know that several of the largest tech companies in the world are owned by blacks and were/are developed by blacks?
Did you know that many of the technology tools and resources we depend on every day (Internet protocols, the ISA bus, graphics cards) were created and developed and perfected by black people?
Here are some capsule descriptions and references to black technology pioneers and black people of note, past and present.
Emmit McHenry: was the founder and President of Network Solutions, Inc. which was the first and at the time only Internet domain name registrar and created and pioneered many of the protocols used every day on the Internet - domain names or URLs - Universal Resource Locators, IP (Internet Protocol) Addresses, and DNS (Domain Name Servers) among others. McHenry’s company was a government contractor at the time and he continually struggled to keep his company funded. He eventually sold his company to Verisign who was able to turn it into a $21 billion enterprise.
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| Emmit McHenry Courtesy The Business Journals |
David Steward is the founder and majority owner of World Wide Technology, the 27th largest privately held company in the U. S. and the largest black-owned company in the country, which grosses $17 billion a year. David has a personal net worth of $7.6 billion in 2024, according to Forbes Magazine. World Wide Technology provides comprehensive IT services to thousands of companies nationwide and worldwide.
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| David Steward |
http://www.atlnightspots.com/a-black-man-named-philip-emeagwali-created-the-internet/
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| Philip Emeagwali - Courtesy Wikipedia |
Senator Sanders has dedicated the past 30 years to the fight for reparations, driven by his own family's history as descendants of American slaves and his personal passion for justice. He emphasizes that reparations aren't just a theoretical concept, but a necessary step to address the legacy of systemic racism and achieve true justice for communities affected.
As the sponsor of New York's reparations commission bill, Senator Sanders is actively working to establish a commission that will tailor its recommendations to the specific needs of the state's communities. This "New York model" will draw on lessons learned elsewhere, but ultimately aim for a unique solution that addresses the historical and ongoing injustices faced by New Yorkers.