Matt Stoller over at myDD.com posts a terrific commentary on the difficult political trade-offs for communities of color and the network neutrality debate. In a nutshell, Matt notes that while two major associations of black and hispanic journalists came out recently in support of net neutrality, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) both came out against net neutrality. He calls these communities of color the "secret weapon" of the telcos:
These [ethnic] groups are now prime movers against net neutrality, for
a variety of indistinguishable reasons. First of all, while Democratic
consultant culture took minorities for granted, corporate America did
not. These companies invested serious money in outreach, and their
staffing choices in the lobbying area reflect a commitment to
diversity. They fund charities, they hire from these communities, and
they are very serious about using the resulting political power they
acquired. By contrast, the lack of a career track in progressive
politics means that our talent bench is low and not particularly
diverse.
The challenge, Matt suggests, is to re-frame the network neutrality issue and clearly articulate media justice as a pre-requisite to social justice. Read the rest of his piece here.