5 Reasons Why Young Black Males Should Focus on Tech Fields Instead of Sports Dreams‏

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More Control Over Your Destiny

In professional sports, players have to answer to their coaches, who have to answer to franchise managers, who then have to answer to the owners. An athlete’s career can change directions several times at the whim of any higher-up.

Alternatively, a tech entrepreneur can exercise more control over which direction he takes his business. Instead of a salary cap, his income potential is limited only by personal willpower and proficiency. He can also determine when, where and how he is going to work.

Develop Technologies to Solve Problems in the Black Community

People of color are the fastest-growing users of everything from smartphones to social media, and according to researchers, they are more likely than whites to use that technology to keep up with what’s happening in their neighborhoods.

While Blacks are some of the biggest consumers of technology, they’re absent from the table and are, therefore, unable to offer significant input into the process.

Black tech entrepreneurs hold the potential to help their communities not only with financial resources or jobs, but by developing solutions that address problems in their communities.

Professional athletes may have the funds to financially contribute to the community, but they rarely have transformative solutions.

Opportunity to Dominate New Territory; Blacks Already Dominate in Sports

Since the color line has been broken down in professional sports, Black males have come to dominate in some of the most popular sports. According to racial equality activist Richard Lapchick, the NBA in 2011 was composed of 78 percent Black players, 17 percent whites, 4 percent Latinos, and 1 percent Asians. In the NFL, 67 percent of all players are Black, and 30 percent are white, 1 percent are Latino, and 2 percent are Asian.

However, when we look at the demographics in the tech industry, it’s a completely different picture. According to the CNN special Black in America: The New Promised Land — Silicon Valley (2011), less than 1 percent of all technology startups are launched by African-Americans.

Because high-tech industries drive global economic activity, it’s crucial for Black males to also be well represented in that space.