Minorities Need to Be Equal Partners in Digital Era - Dr. Tyrone D. Taborn

National Boy Scout Sunday Observed at John Wesley United Methodist Church

Foreign dignitaries, city government officials, elder Scouters, family members and friends of Boy Scout Troop Pack 89 congregated last Sunday February 11, 2007, to celebrate National Boy Scout Sunday at an impressive service held at the John Wesley United Methodist Church in Baltimore.

"We are here to celebrate the boys who have chosen to follow a path that leads to a future of prosperity and empowerment. Their training is based on character, citizenship, and personal fitness which moulds them into model citizens who are intellectually, physically and emotionally prepared for the future", Guest Speaker Dr. Tyrone D. Taborn, Chairman of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, said.

Using the opportunity to kick off the Black Family Technology Week which he founded, Dr. Taborn continued that technology and science are in every aspect of our lives and minorities need to jump on it if they are to survive in this century. "There is a wide digital divide and our youth have to get on the ball and close it. It is true that we have access and use of the new technology. Access is important. But access alone doesn't make financial and corporate gains. Jobs and businesses do. My question is, are we prepared for the new technologies? Everyone here has a cell phone, gaming system, a DVD player, a computer etc but how many of us actually know how to make these?"

He said minorities have to know how to make and control technology if they are to survive in the future. "We need to be equal partners in this digital era. To do that, we need more black youth in engineering so we will be prepared for the new age. We need to be able to produce these as equal partners," Dr. Taborn charged.

In attendance were seven visiting Boy Scout, Cub Scout and one Girl Scout units including Troop/Pack 487 of Ebenezer AME Church Ft. Washington who are credited to be the first unit in the history of Scouting to produce nineteen Eagles in one year. And in true Scouting spirit, the congregants gave a standing ovation to William Griggs, original member of Sharp Street UMC Boy Scout Troop 275 which was founded in 1926.