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In a meeting this past weekend in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, African finance ministers appealed to wealthy countries to cancel Africa’s debt. The finance ministers said that they were confident that their economies would take off if debt levels would be reduced or “forgiven” by creditor countries. At the start of the millennium, 180 governments agreed on goals to reduce poverty by 50% by 2015 in the African countries. Based on data and trends five years later, sub-Saharan Africa is set to miss all of the targets.

“We launch an appeal for the cancellation of Africa’s debt to enable a better financing of our economies for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals,” the finance ministers pleaded.

As late as 2005, robust internet access was enjoyed by 30% of U.S. households. These homes were mostly white households. When telecom and cable companies first offered BROADBAND, they naturally started with the “toniest” neighborhoods first. Meanwhile, BROADBAND adoption by AFRICAN AMERICANS was a mere 14% according to data from the PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT. The resulting “digital divide” between whites and AFRICAN AMERICANS was considered a lasting socioeconomic problem like the protracted disparity between AFRICAN AMERICAN and white unemployment.