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“ The story of Black Wall Street proved Black potential to be limitless...” “Technology is the core medium through which all global innovation and the creation of new wealthgenerating markets takes place consistently,” Billingsley says, “and by the year 2030 there will be as many as 4.3 million vacant, high-paying tech jobs due to a tech talent shortage.” Upon discovering these statistics, Billingsley sought to create a link between the wealth gap and this area of previously uncharted territory in tech. While it thrives as a multi-billion-dollar industry, there is still a growing chasm of unsolved problems desperately needing advancements in technology to develop solutions. In other words, there are countless opportunities for Black brilliance to be put on display for the world. There are job opportunities in programming, coding, configuring, training, analyzing, engineering, developing, testing, and managing special projects; initiating a monumental transfer of wealth that will prove to be far more significant than any pending reparations check. “Tech is the new oil,” Tyrance says. Some jobs may go to robots, but manpower will still be needed in order to program, troubleshoot, and maintain them. Powered by the unique and unparalleled legacy of Greenwood, Black Tech Street’s endgame is to serve as a model for utilizing Black Innovation Economies to generate wealth and socioeconomic power for Black people. As Tyrance put it in his 2022 TEDx Talk, this will put pressure on our country to “stop seeing
Black people as just an oppressed demographic in need of charity, and start seeing us as the untapped energy source that will power technological innovation and catalyze economic growth in America for the next century.” He is calling for governmental officials to recognize the benefits of implementing more intentional efforts to welcome the Black community into careers in the tech field, as He believes Black people fully embracing tech is key to keeping America’s economy competitive with other nations around the world. Approximately 10% of all Fortune 500 companies are in the tech industry and two of the top five on the list are big tech organizations that produce hundreds of billions of dollars in annual commerce. Since the ominous summer of 2020 that took our nation by storm and brought to light many extreme issues of racial divide that have quietly existed in the dark corners for years, many of those organizations have made efforts to better address the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion in their corporate cultures. While imperfect, these efforts are an invitation for Black innovators to participate. “The story of Black Wall Street proved Black potential to be limitless – even in a country that had enslaved us and made racism the very cornerstone of its identity,” Tyrance says. He truly believes this same spirit resides in Black Tulsans and Black Americans today, and it’s time for a rebirth of the tenacity that created such a level of nationally-recognized affluence.
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Kelsey has always been driven by the belief that technology, combined with a strong sense of community, can transform lives. She recognizes that every community has its unique challenges and opportunities and maintains that it is crucial to integrate technology tailored to the community’s needs. In the case of Tulsa, although it may lack the infrastructure commonly associated with tech hubs, Kelsey believes it possesses a pool of talented individuals. “In reality, most creators who are freelancers in America are living in a market like Tulsa and they maybe don’t want to move to New York or in LA in order to be a photographer,” shared Davis. This is where she believes that tech can play a transformative role, enabling the community to leverage its existing talent and create an environment where tech-driven solutions can thrive. Davis hopes Tulsa can become a reference point for addressing the average American’s pain points within the creator economy. “I think Black people generally can solve problems for 99% of the world, just because we are forced socially to empathize with the world around us everyday,” Kelsey stated. “We’re having to see from a different perspective all the time. So when you take that type of logic, but you bring it into technology, we can build products that ideally not only service our own ecosystem, but other parallel ecosystems all around the world.”
“ I THINK BLACK PEOPLE GENERALLY CAN SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR 99% OF THE WORLD...” 32
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GwdAve.3.0 23Q3 Lookbook (pp. 87-96)
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