New York Gov. Kathy Hochul apologized this week after saying there are black kids in the Bronx who don’t know what the word “computer” means.
Hochul made the remarks during an address at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, California.
“Now what we have is the money to build a phenomenal super computer that is gonna be accessible to the researchers in New York, college students, will attract more federal grants, and this is how we lay down the mark,” Hochul said. “No state has done this. In fact, I talk to a lot of other people who say, ‘I wish my governor had thought of that first.’ I say, ‘No no, this is New York. We like to be first,’ with all due respect to you from other states.”
“It’s sort of our attitude,” Hochul continued. “We will be the best, we will be the first, and I want others to follow, because right now we have young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is. They don’t know. They don’t know these things.”
Her remarks were intended to generate publicity for the state’s $400 million “Empire AI” initiative funding artificial intelligence in the state.
The governor is focused on expanding access to training on cutting-edge technology to children in low-income areas, including the Bronx.
