Giving Compass' Take:

• Data 4 Black Lives consists of activists and organizers who are using tech to help advance the lives of black people. Recently, the group hosted a conference at MIT to discuss issue areas at the intersection of race and technology. 

• How does tech play a role in hindering some communities while advancing others?  

• Read about ways for donors to address race and privilege in their giving. 

Data 4 Black Lives, a group comprised of activists, organizers, and mathematicians who are committed to using data science to create concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people, had their third conference this weekend. Titled Data 4 Black Lives II, the conference was held on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and featured topical discussions around the 2020 Census, algorithms for local organizing, gun violence, and the role of what the group describes as “movement scientists”

One of the many topics of this year’s conference surrounded Amazon’s doorbell using facial recognition technology that can be programmed to identify “suspicious faces” and can call the police automatically. According to research from Perpetual Lineup, over half American adults are enrolled in a facial recognition database available to law enforcement agencies, the same agencies consistently perpetuate racial violence.

A vital component of the conference was the group’s presence on social media, particularly Twitter, where Q&A sessions were held to expand the reach of the discussion beyond the room in MIT, and created larger questions for the whole of social media to help answer.

Read the full article about data 4 black lives by Daniel Johnson at The Black Youth Project