“The Black Tech Guy” Mondo Davison discusses creating a digital platform filled with culturally relevant short stories to promote reading among children of color:
“Mondo Davison aka “The Black Tech Guy” has a vision and his vision sprouts from the realities of his childhood. In a recent article, he talks about the fact that he didn’t read a full book until the age of 20. It wasn’t because he couldn’t read or didn’t have access to books, but rather it was due to his lack of interest.
“The books that were available in my classroom were LAME and completely unrelated to me,” Davison explains. “I’m talking white leading characters, white supporting characters, white settings, white leaning plots, white language, etc. I saw zero value in the literary options.”
It wasn’t until he was in college at FAMU that he finally read a book cover to cover.
After becoming an educator in St. Paul Public Schools, he realized that not much has changed when it came to book resources. He notes that traditional short stories and books were still just as bland and disconnected to the minority experience as he remembered from his childhood.
This was a major reason he came up with Shortiez.”
(Source: Blavity.com)
Originally published: 9/25/17
