A few weeks ago, Cardinal News editor Dwayne Yancey wrote a column about Rep. Ro Khanna, the congressman from Silicon Valley. Khanna has made a name for himself by advocating that the nation’s technology sector should be more widely distributed, that it’s not healthy for the country that it be concentrated in just a handful of places. He has a new book elaborating on this – “Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work For All Of Us.” Yancey suggested that someone should invite Khanna to speak in Southwest or Southside.
That column made its way to Khanna and now he is, indeed, coming to speak. He’ll appear Thursday, June 9 at 7 p.m. in Blacksburg. Beth Macy, author of “Dopesick,” will moderate a conversation about what smaller communities can do to attract tech-related jobs. The event is free, but registration is required and seating is limited so please share with anyone who might be interested. You can sign up here. The event is co-sponsored by Cardinal News, the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council and the Corporate Research Center.
Khanna’s talk will be the first of our Cardinal News speaker series, where we aim to bring in nationally known speaker to address some aspect of a changing economy. Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturing (and former chief of staff to then-Gov. George Allen), is scheduled to appear in Danville in September; the date has not yet been set. We hope soon to announce other speakers for Bristol/Abingdon and Lynchburg.