Teenagers

Imagine your son coming from school and telling you that he had to ask permission to the school principal to sit during recess under the "white's only" tree, which happens to be the only tree in the schoolyard. Then imagine your son coming back from school telling you that he could sit under that tree but now there were lynching nooses covering it.

Then imagine that word spreads. People of all ages and races talk about the incident. Some white and black kids get into an altercation and the rumble. One of the white kids draw a gun on 6 of the brawlers, but they're able to rumble harder with one of the white guy's friends.

Now, imagine you are the mother of one of those guys. The white kid that got his ass kick luckily is fine. He even goes to school and to an event the next day.

Now imagine being the mother of one of the 6 brawlers. While the white instigators threatened to kill the black teenagers with a gun, there's a police officer knocking on your door with a warrant for your son's arrest. The crime? Attempted murder. Not disorderly conduct or assault and battery, which would have been possible valid reasons to take your son to the police station. No. Your son is going to jail for attempted murder of a guy who walked away with some cuts and bruises.

That's what The Jena Six Case is all about.

Please help me reprise the Digital Ethnorati Panel at SXSW next year; and in the process, bring outstanding African American, Asian American, Latino, Native American and other minority teenage technologists to one of the most important new media conferences in the United States.

Liza with Bianca and Samantha, two awesome ambassadors for the Digital Ethnorati

One of my accomplishments this year was to be able to put together a panel at the prestigious South by Southwest new media conference, discussing the rising influence and importance of african american, latino, asian and other minorities early adopters of digital, new media and mobile technologies.

In this panel I attempted to open a reframing of the digital divide by asking the question : If minorities are such profitable early adopters of digital, mobile and new media technologies, why is it that we're still treated as if we were technology illiterate?

For that matter, Mini Khanlon's talked about the accomplishments of The Level Playing Field Institute and her experience as an upper class Indian woman who understood the social privileges of many Asian Americans.

The second presentation was with Stephen Wilmarth, Bianca Velez and Samantha Perez of The Center for 21st Century Skills. This presentation was heartbreaking, as one of the students of the program had been deported to Brazil and was giving her part of the presentation through Skype.

As reported in San Francisco Gate:

STATEWIDE
100% of precincts reporting

Yes 3,035,043 45.9%
No 3,577,051 54.1%

Read the proposition as it appeared on the ballot: