Will.i.am Says Geekdom Can Change Inner Cities Forever
Will.i.am recently spoke at the biggest software conference in the world. The Black Eyed Peas artist took the stage in front of an estimated 170,000 people on Oct. 5 and said that "geekdom can change inner cities forever."
DreamForce is San Francisco's largest annual tech event, hosted by SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff. You can view Will.i.am speak at the conference in the above video courtesy of ABC 7 News.
Will.i.am speaks about the troubles facing poverty-ridden neighborhoods across the nation. He states, "There's a tsunami in every hood every day. It's just not water: it's lack of opportunity, and no investment in education, a tsunami of crime." The Black Eyed Peas singer also addresses the lack of African-American people in the building, saying, "The obvious color tone in the room. Why does it have to look like this in the room? There's a whole bunch of other folks that are like me that are in the hood that can contribute."
He closes his speech by saying, "I think that geekdom can change inner cities forever." Also, at one point during the conference, the video screens played the Black Eyed Peas updated version of "Where Is the Love?" featuring artists including A$AP Rocky, Diddy and The Game. In addition to Rocky, Puffy and Game, the Black Eyed Peas enlisted a ton of other artists such as Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Justin Timberlake, Ty Dolla $ign, Usher, DJ Khaled, Jaden Smith, Jhené Aiko, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa and LL Cool J. The video also features Alton Sterling’s wife, Philando Castile’s mother, a 40-member children’s choir, various religious leaders, police officers and more.
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