An African American Web Browser?
The first web browser for African-Americans, Blackbird, was recently released. As a web developer, the first thing that popped in my mind is: Why? What is the point of this? Are browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer somehow racist?
Unfortunately, the Blackbird web site doesn’t give many answers. It states the browser is “powered by Mozilla, which powers some of the most popular Internet browsers”. Okay. So this is essentially Firefox repackaged. Then why not just use Firefox? I assume because the browser will “add to your web surfing experience with content that you would not otherwise find”. Does this imply that Firefox and other browsers somehow censor content on the internet? If so, I’m sure many people at the Mozilla organization will take objection to that.
This is quite simply silly. A web browser is an software devoid of race and is simply an access tool for the content of the internet. If a user chooses to access information for African-Americans, then great! There is certainly nothing wrong with that. Likewise, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with an African-American “themed” web browser. However, to imply that it somehow works differently or provides different content than other browsers is absurd. Likewise, one would have to question the real need for racially themed web software products.
Before projects like this are launched, people should ask themselves: Does this further racial equality, does it distract from it, or does it contribute further to division and racial tension? Do we really need to continue to identify with communities of race, or should instead strive to identify as a diverse and united community?
