The Metro: Black Tech Saturdays helping Detroiters succeed in expanding field

The tech field is continuing to expand its reach, especially as more industries adopt automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. But these technologies didn’t create themselves.

They were designed by people, often those who have more resources and access to technology than the average American. However, as we continue to adopt these technologies into our everyday lives, it’s important that these tools work for the needs of many different communities.

Black Tech Saturdays, created by Johnnie and Alexa Turnage, is an organization in Detroit with the goal of promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Johnnie Turnage joined the show on Monday to discuss how the organization has grown since its founding one year ago.

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“We bring out industry leaders, people who can teach workshops, just different trainings on how to get further in tech, even people who are hiring, just to help all of us see ourselves in tech, and it’s been a blessing,” he said.

Turnage says Black Detroiters have been making a name for themselves in the tech field while also helping others get their foot in the door.

“We have to share the code, share the game and help make sure that everything that I know if the community knows that’s going to be the fastest path to generational wealth — watching a company go from zero to like revenue and funded in less than six months, that’s because we shared enough wealth,” Turnage said. “So it is humbly understanding that it’s not about one of us winning, and so I want 1,000 people to win and in two years, we should see more Detroit tech entrepreneurs get the shrines that they’ve never experienced before. And that’s what success looks like for us.” 

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Johnnie Turnage of Black Tech Saturdays.

More headlines from The Metro on April 29, 2024: 

• Democrats are back in power in Lansing following special elections held earlier this month that regained their slim two seat majority in the state House. Meanwhile, Republicans are setting their strategy to try and retake the majority this fall, pointing to their fundraising numbers ahead of the November election. So what does this mean for the Democrats policy agenda in Lansing? To help us answer this question we’re joined by Lauren Gibbons who covers state politics and policy for Bridge Michigan.
• On the latest episode of MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with Republican Rep. Bill Schuette to discuss the Republican party’s electoral chances this year. 
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to convince Israelis to consider a future Palestinian state. But many in Israel are more opposed to that than ever. NPR’s Michele Keleman spoke with the minority of Israeli citizens pushing for a two-state solution.
• If you were around Detroit this weekend, you know that everyone was talking about the draft. The event broke records for attendance as 775,000 people came to downtown Detroit. The draft stole the show, but the Detroit Lions had some interesting selections. To help us break down the Lions’ draft decisions, Detroit Free Press columnist and sports writer Shawn Windsor joined the show.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.