Anti-Racist Youth Promote
Info-technology Skills

S. Miah

Shahid Miah, an amiable and confident twenty-three year old student, leads YARA the youth vanguard of the Anti-Racist Alliance, a national campaign against discrimination and prejudice. He is also promotes IT or information technology conferences for young black achievers in prestigious locations like IBM's headquarters along the Thames embankment.

Build confidence
Miah erases any doubts about his two-pronged approach. "Everyone knows that applying for jobs these days isn't just a matter of quoting qualifications." he says, and points to the ARA poster 'A Sorry Tale' that baldly states: "Black graduates are four times as likely to be unemployed as white graduates. Racism destroys lives".

Miah aims to counteract this gloomy prospect by building up the confidence of black graduates and equipping them with new skills they need to compete in the job market. "It's a high tech world out there," says Miah, himself of Bangladeshi immigrant parents, and job candidates have increasingly to demonstrate a good level of computer literacy".

With IBM (UK)'s support, Miah has organised a RESPECT IT project for aspiring African, Asian and Caribbean youth. Sponsors include the government's Department of Trade and Industry "IT for All" programme, and the Black Press - the New Nation, Asian Times and Caribbean Times, and Eastern Eye.

M. East

"With confidence and competitiveness, Blacks can make it in the Information Technology world," says Marcus East, IBM's senior e-business Sales Consultant for the Banking and Government industry. Born in Britain of Jamaican parentage, East, a graduate of Latymer Grammar School and London Guildhall University, works with some of IBM's largest enterprise customers to design their e-business solutions and web sites. Blacks with IT skills can help others in local communities, says East, who also chairs a community education and business partnership in Lambeth borough.

Cutting edge
Motivating Black Awareness is part of our overall strategy to combat the effects of racism, says Miah, whose efforts have won commendation from Government Leader Tony Blair, MP. "We are basically saying skill up or get left behind," says Miah. His conferences and a report on IT and the Black Community will back business and government actions promoting the take-up and availability of information technology.

Young participants in the RESPECT IT project are aware they are on the cutting edge of new technologies that barely existed when they were born. As second or third generation children of black immigrants they are embracing IT because of its extraordinary potential at work, study and in their communities.

G. White

Youth views
But, harnessing this potential is not a simple matter. "Costs are a big problem," says Gavin White, a law student at London Guildhall University. "Subsidies are needed to reduce the barriers of cost. Better still, why not waive telephone charges and the like altogether, " he says. As president of his university African Caribbean society, Gavin knows that young blacks are hard hit by all the additional costs of purchasing and using info-tech equipment.

O. Shittu

Olubusola Shittu, a business management and technology student at South Bank University holds similar views. Shittu feels she needs to learn IT skills to enhance her future prospects, but worries about meeting the costs involved. To unlock the potential of her PC, she has to upgrade to a Pentium, buy an inkjet printer and scanner, and a modem too, she says.

D. Malcolm

Denise Malcolm, aims to apply her IT interests in her public relations job in a national voluntary association. "IT skills will also come in handy in my course work at the University of Westminster," says Malcolm, a mature part-time journalism student.

E. Parke

Move on up
Mother of one, Efua Owusu Ivy Parke, has developed a reasonable familiarity with IT through her business studies background gained at Ghana's Cape Coast University. She doesn't mind happily tapping away on her PC, scanning or printing. Any doubts she has about the energy, time and cost involved in gaining new IT skills are offset, she says, by the thought that " I can move up from being a lowly office worker to a well-paid skilled specialist".

S. Joseph

This idea of moving up and moving on is also attractive to Suzanne Joseph, who works for YARA. But she adds some special points of emphasis. "For me IT is about creativity and communication, not just 'you and the computer'," she says. "I want to use IT to back up my university degree in international relations. It's a question of reaching out to other people. Problems of the world environment influence my thoughts, and I want to do something about them," she says.

Business help
Support for YARA's objectives also comes from impressive and enterprising figures in black businesses and corporate organisations. Winston Bobb promotes IT skills and jobs through his African British Information Technology Association.

I. Syed

Ismayeel Syed, at 25 years of age, is training a whole new IT generation through his SmartTrack Solutions company. Syed is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and has designed and installed network based processing systems for government, finance trading, and industrial companies.

Karl Wilson, co-founder and managing director of Blacknet UK, an Internet web site, "is committed to the IT empowerment of the Black community". Information technology offers the means for improved communication and economic development, he says.

Sam Samra, 27, directs the Asian Business Network, said to be "UK's leading Asian web site, targeted towards second and third generation Asian professionals". The ABN is, says Samra, "a self-financing non-sectarian organisation promoting the educational, social, moral and economic interests of all people of Indian and sub-continental origin".

Shahid Miah believes that YARA's approach is correct. "We are part of the anti-racist movement and offer an educational forum where vital issues impacting on Black communities can be discussed with pro-active solutions," he says. On a broader front, says Miah "The IT initiative will help Black people become part of the Information Age and narrow the gap between the technology 'haves' and 'have nots'".