His company aimed to serve a black community online. We'd at least be black players, able to go to lunch at the South Park Cafe and meet people and cut deals. That's not supposed to matter in the new world of the Net. But of course it does.
Blacks still make up a disproportionately small percentage of the American online population.
Ellington estimates that, out of America Online's 8 million-plus subscribers, at least 500,000 are black, and he expects that number to continue to grow. If in 2007, the numbers are the same, I'll panic. But in 1997, I still point out to folks that 99 percent of white people are still not online. So I'm not going to worry. One of the driving points of technology today is making things more widely available.