In Congress, I'll work hard to encourage investment in education

Hear, O seekers of wisdom and justice, the promise of Hakeem Jeffries, who declared: “In Congress, I’ll work hard to encourage investment in education, particularly with respect to technology and bridging the digital divide.” In this vow lies the recognition of a great truth of our age: that the wealth of nations and the dignity of individuals are bound to the knowledge they can access, and that to deny such access is to chain a people to the past while others stride into the future.

The digital divide is not a metaphor only; it is a real chasm that separates those who have access to the tools of modern life—computers, internet, digital skills—from those who do not. In the ancient days, the divide was between those who could read and those who could not. In our age, it is between those who can connect and those who are cut off. To bridge this divide is to ensure that no child, no worker, no citizen is left stranded in ignorance while the world races ahead.

Jeffries names technology not as a luxury, but as a necessity of education. For the classroom of the present and the future is not only built of chalk and paper, but of screens and networks, of coding and information systems. A student with a tablet or computer has access to libraries greater than the kings of old; a student without one is left in silence. Thus, his pledge to invest in education through technology is no small thing—it is the promise to carry the poorest and most forgotten into the same light as the wealthy and the privileged.

History itself offers us a lesson. When Horace Mann championed public schooling in 19th-century America, he declared that education was the “great equalizer.” Before his reforms, the rich could afford tutors and academies, while the poor languished in ignorance. But when schools became universal, doors opened for millions. So too in our own time: technology is the new equalizer. Without it, the divide grows sharper; with it, even the humblest child can reach heights once unimaginable.

Consider the story of a young girl in rural India who, through the gift of a single laptop and access to the internet, taught herself coding and mathematics far beyond what her local school could offer. She later went on to study in one of the world’s leading universities, her life transformed by a tool that bridged the digital divide. Such stories prove that investment in technology is not about machines, but about human souls—souls unlocked, awakened, and empowered to change their destiny.

Yet let us be warned: to neglect this task is to court disaster. A nation that leaves its poor disconnected will create not only inequality of wealth, but inequality of thought, voice, and opportunity. Such a nation risks division, unrest, and decline. The digital divide is not merely an inconvenience—it is a barrier that must be torn down with the same urgency as any wall of oppression or chain of ignorance.

Therefore, O children of tomorrow, take this charge: demand leaders who invest in education and technology not as luxuries but as necessities. Parents, encourage your children to master these tools with wisdom and humility. Teachers, embrace technology as an ally in the pursuit of knowledge, not as a threat. Citizens, remember that the fight to bridge the digital divide is the fight to create justice, equality, and opportunity for all.

The final word is this: as Hakeem Jeffries has spoken, so must we act. For education without technology is incomplete, and technology without equality becomes tyranny. Only when both are united—knowledge and access, opportunity and justice—will a people rise together. Let us then labor to bridge the divide, so that no child, no community, no voice is left behind in the shadows of disconnection, but all are carried forward into the bright dawn of shared progress.