We Can’t Afford to Only Be Users Anymore: Why Black Tech Ownership Matters

Let’s be real: the world runs on technology now.

Not just phones and apps—everything. Jobs, money, housing, education, healthcare, media… even what people believe. It’s all filtered through systems built with code, powered by data, and controlled by whoever owns the infrastructure.

And that’s exactly why the Black community has to start taking tech more seriously—not as a hobby, not as a trend, not as “somebody else’s lane,” but as a survival skill and a wealth strategy.

Because right now, we’re living inside somebody else’s machine.

Tech is the new “land”

For generations, ownership was the difference between stability and struggle. Land. Buildings. Businesses. Printing presses. Factories. Those were the tools that created power, jobs, and legacy.

Today? Tech is that.

Platforms are the new real estate. Data is the new oil. Algorithms are the new gatekeepers. And software is the new factory—except it prints value 24/7.

If we don’t own tech, then we don’t own the systems shaping our future. We rent access. We pay fees. We follow rules we didn’t write. We build audiences we don’t control.

And when the rules change, we’re the ones who feel it first.

If you don’t own the platform, you don’t own your voice

I’ve watched people build whole movements, businesses, and brands on someone else’s platform… then one algorithm change later, it’s like they disappeared.

That’s not ownership. That’s tenancy.

Ownership starts small and simple:

your own website (a real home base)
your own email list (direct access)
your own SMS list (real-time reach)
your own content archive (so nothing gets deleted or buried)

Because when you control the channel, nobody can “turn you down” with the flip of a switch.

We spend billions… and most of it leaves the community

We’re major consumers. We support trends, brands, and culture that drive the market. But when the money circulates, it doesn’t circle back to us nearly enough.

Every subscription, delivery fee, transaction fee, service charge, and app purchase is a reminder: we’re paying into ecosystems we don’t own.

Tech ownership is how you plug that leak.

When we build tools—apps, services, platforms, systems—money can move through us, employ us, and fund the things our community actually needs.

Not just “representation.” Revenue.

Algorithms are making decisions about us—quietly

People still think bias only looks like somebody saying something racist out loud.

But modern bias often looks like software.

A hiring system decides who gets filtered out.
A credit model decides who gets approved.
A pricing model decides what you pay.
A recommendation system decides who gets seen.

And a lot of it gets called “neutral” because it’s built with math. But math can be biased if the data is biased. And data reflects history—who got included, who got excluded, and who got treated like a problem.

If we don’t understand tech, we can’t question it. If we don’t build tech, we can’t replace it.

How tech helped me—creatively and professionally

This isn’t theory for me. Tech is one of the main reasons I’ve been able to level up in real life.

Creatively: tech let me turn ideas into real things

I’m a creative. I like building worlds, brands, visuals, and experiences—not just talking about them.

Tech gave me the ability to take what’s in my head and actually ship it:

build websites and pages that look how I imagined them
create interactive experiences instead of just posting concepts
design systems for content, streaming, and digital media
take a creative vision and make it functional, usable, and scalable

And the best part is: once you know how to build, you stop waiting on people to “greenlight” you. You become the greenlight.

Professionally: tech turned me into the person people need

In my career, tech made me dangerous—in a good way.

Not “I’m the smartest in the room” dangerous. More like:

I can translate between marketing and technical teams
I can build solutions instead of just requesting them
I can look at a problem and map it into systems, steps, and outcomes
I can connect platforms, automate workflows, and make things smoother

That skill set doesn’t just get you hired—it makes you valuable anywhere. Because every organization has problems, but not everyone can build the fix.

And in my case, leaning into tech didn’t just help me do my job better—it opened doors. It created options. It expanded what I can earn, what I can build, and how much control I have over my future.

Black culture moves the world. We should own the machines that monetize it.

We set trends. We shape language. We build community energy that companies copy and sell back to everybody.

But too often, we create the value and somebody else owns the platform that captures the profit.

Owning tech is how you stop being the source of the wave and start being the owner of the ocean.

Not to gatekeep culture—to protect it, to sustain it, to make sure the people creating the value can build real wealth from it.

“Not everybody needs to code” — true. But everybody needs tech power.

The convo gets stuck because people think tech equals being a programmer.

No.

Tech literacy is like financial literacy. Everybody benefits, even if everybody isn’t an accountant.

What we need is a community where people understand:

how to protect themselves online
how to use tech to grow income
how to build and own an audience
how to evaluate information and misinformation
how to use data to make smarter decisions
how to create systems instead of always reacting to them

And yes—we need builders too. Developers. Cybersecurity folks. Data analysts. Designers. Product minds. People who can take community needs and turn them into real tools.

Why we need more Black people excited about tech

Because excitement turns into consistency—and consistency turns into mastery.

We don’t just need a few “successful” Black people in tech.

We need:

Black people who want to build
Black people who see tech as creative, not intimidating
Black people who see tech as community work, not “nerd stuff”
Black people who understand ownership is the goal—not just a job title

When more of us are building, we get:

more Black-owned tools and platforms
more Black hiring pipelines
more Black-led products that actually serve our needs
more wealth staying in the community
more protection from being exploited by systems we don’t control

Tech becomes a multiplier for everything we already have—creativity, culture, resilience, strategy.

The real goal: move from consumers to stakeholders

Stop only asking, “How do I get access?” Start asking, “How do we build leverage?”

Leverage looks like:

owning distribution (email/SMS lists)
owning platforms (sites, apps, directories)
owning data (analytics, insights, systems)
owning products (software, tools, services)
owning the pipeline (training and hiring our own people)

That’s how you build something that outlives a moment and becomes legacy.

Tech is not the enemy.

Being locked out of ownership is.

We can build our own—but first we have to believe it matters enough to start.