data as protest. accountability. & collective action.

d4bl data as protest. accountability. & collective action.  Dear friends, I have found myself thinking a lot about what it means to do something totally new. In my work at Data for Black Lives, so much of what I speak about, what we research and elevate as a movement, what we face daily as Black people, is not new, but old, archaic. The lantern laws, black codes, bullets, fire hoses and police dogs of our country’s violent past have become the face recognition technologies, automated decision-making systems, credit scores and risk assessments of today. In the testimony I gave at the Massachusetts State House as part of the incredible coalition to pass a moratorium on face recognition technologies, I was sure to emphasize -  just because a technology is new doesn’t mean it's innovative. The search for newness, true social change, has been my greatest journey of this last decade. It is a conclusion and a beginning, ending ten years of organizing in the trenches. I will never forget spending the summer of 2010 on the hot pavement of West Oakland collecting surveys for the Alameda Health Department. Sitting in the living rooms of elderly Black people, sharing laughs with the young families and white newcomers who lived in the 12 block radius of my turf, preparing them for a foreclosure blockade in the event of a bank eviction of one of their neighbors. There were 400,000 foreclosures that summer in Oakland. And with every conversation, every smile, every memory of the community that used to be, I learned that there was no data driven violence, not even the subprime mortgage rate “crisis”, that could erase the agency of the people I  had the honor to work with and serve. I remember not only the tragedies, but the faces, filled with possibility. The cold marble floor of the Florida State Capitol where myself and hundreds of other young Black people slept for days in protest of the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in the summer of 2013.  And though in a very different context, the scowls, but mainly cheers, of people as I stood outside of the NewsCorp building holding signs with the face of a well-known, very racist television host, naming and implicating his crimes against women and boldly demanding that in the political climate of 2016, no one will get away with being a bigot. The end of the decade brought me to you, and all of us together. It felt as if 2019 was the preparation, a catapult full of potential energy ready to be released in 2020. It began with our second Data for Black Lives conference, and continued with my travels all over the world, seeking the newness, the true social change, that I realize is more a set of questions than it is an answer. Abolish Big Data became the paradigm from which I would press forward into these questions, because from what I have learned, abolition isn’t only about destruction - it is about the creation of something new. The violence of our modern existence seeks to rob us of possibility - trauma seems to rob us of our imagination. Abolition is about reimagining the social landscape, it is about unlearning, surrendering, and it begins with you, right here and right now. The newness of this movement has grown, like a well-watered tree, out of my experiences and the opportunities I've had to work deeply with and in community with others. And this is my vision, our collective goal for 2020 and beyond: to build new relationships and collaborations amongst you all in the cities and regions where you live. Our hubs will be cells of local strategizing and tactical triage to support ongoing efforts and launch new initiatives to use data to make concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people. And this is what we need the most right now: people empowered with the technical ability as well as vision to go against the status quo- the policies, practices, written and unwritten rules. Rules, that because of the prevailing absence of both empathy and originality, seek to extend the shelf life of a racist history that has no place in the future. At the end of this new decade, I see the trees we together becoming a great forest, spanning this country and the globe. Start here to build a new D4BL hub or join an existing one. To everyone who has already come forth and joined the informational calls, and to the incredible group in DC that have been meeting and organizing for the past year, thank you. For people who come forth as leaders, we will be hosting a week long training for trainers after our conference in the months following our third conference this summer in New York City. I have always believed that while movement-building isn't the most high -tech solution, it works. We don't need more technical solutions to problems that have deep historical roots. We must speak life and possibility in a world that is currently built on death and destruction. And there is nothing more fresh, more new, than life itself. Thank you for being a part of what we are building, happy new year.  Much love, Yeshi  Watch the Abolish Big Data Lecture at Het HEM, Netherlands.

In 2019 I delivered the Abolish Big Data keynote all over the world. In universities like Smith College surrounded by brilliant and sharply aware students, at Northwestern Medical School as part of a day-long symposium to address bias in Big Data & LGBTQ health with some of the most compassionate and dedicated scholars I have ever met, at the United Nations in Geneva to commemorate the end of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The last Abolish Big Data lecture I gave this decade was different. It had to be different - it was held at an old munitions factory, now turned art institution, but remaining a living relic of Amsterdam's history as the birthplace of colonialism and a symbol of militarization happening all over the world, seen vividly in protests in in Haiti, Lebanon, Chile, Hong Kong, Bolivia and all across the globe. In the spirit of the Black prophetic tradition, I decided to preach. I  am so excited to be able to finally share this special video with you all, Abolish Big Data as a performative lecture and sermon. Special thanks to my wonderful friend Nicolas Jaar who created the space to make this possible, and for his powerful introduction. You can read my full lecture here.

Forbes 30 Under 30 We are excited to announce that we made the Forbes 30 under 30 list. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized along with young leaders all over the world and even better to do it in the name of making data a tool for social change instead of a weapon of political oppression. Thank you to the selection committee and to you all, our incredible network of over 4,000 scientists and activists!  Why we need Data for Black Lives Algorithms may be hidden from most of us but they’re shaping many aspects of our lives. Who’s creating them, and what background and biases do they bring? Entrepreneur and data scientist Yeshimabeit Milner is sparking a movement of technologists, mathematicians, and community change-makers who want to use data to create a more equitable world. Read more at Forbes Magazine. Get Involved: D4BL Hubs  Starting with a pilot program in Washington, DC, we will be supporting the formation of several Data for Black Lives chapters in cities throughout the US. These hubs will serve as launchpads for distributed organizing and advocacy initiatives and the training of leaders equipped with the technical skills, vision and empathy to use data to make concrete and measurable in the communities where they live.  If you are interested in leading a hub where you live, please sign up using this link: bit.ly/d4blhubs.  We are looking for an app developer who can help us design, build and launch our switchboard app for connecting scientists, activists, artists, designers and members of our network. If you are interested, please send an email to info@d4bl.org with the subject line "Switchboard app."  Join Us: Data for Black Lives III Conference  We are excited to announce that the next D4BL conference, D4BL III will be happening in Summer 2020 in NYC. Please join our network at bit.ly/join_d4bl to be among the first to know when the program is announced and tickets go on sale.  Upcoming events & calls to action  Yeshi's speaking events:    2.13   University of Miami  (Miami, FL)  2.19   Data & Society  (New York, NY)  2.25   Yale School of Management  (New Haven, CT)  2.27   Harvard Divinity School  (Cambridge, MA)  3.14   North Carolina State University  (Raleigh, NC)  DATA FOR PUBLIC GOOD  In 2019 The Twin Cities Innovation Alliance (TCIA) and the Coalition to Stop the Cradle to Prison Algorithm were instrumental in organizing and equipping parents, youth and community members in shutting down a problematic cross system data sharing agreement that integrated predictive analytics between the City of St. Paul, St. Paul Public Schools and Ramsey County, MN.  Data for Black Lives played a critical role in our success- now we are coming to you again for your collective support as a part of the D4BL network.   We learned many lessons and identified additional emerging technological trends in education surfacing locally and around the country – without the knowledge, awareness and consent of communities. In response we decided to launch the Data for Public Good Campaign (D4PG) and landed on a national community co-research project as a first step.  Our goal is to do information gathering and data collection across 25 community sites, with the goal of creating a heat map that captures the emergence of Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Algorithms, Threat Assessments, Social Media Monitoring… in education and education ecosystems (i.e. juvenile justice, law enforcement, public health, housing…).   Gathering Our Own Data Through Community Co-Research Step 1. Sign up to be a community co-researcher: Our goal is to support community members in collecting local data on the emerging trend of Big Data, Predictive Analytics and Algorithms in education and to document where and how it is showing up.   Your willingness to volunteer as community co-researcher and data collector makes this grassroots effort possible -please consider signing up today.  Email admin@tciamn.org to sign up or for more information! Step 2. Watch the D4PG Informational Webinar  Once you have confirmed your participation in the D4PG project we will share with you an informational webinar to review.  We’ve recorded an informational webinar which provides an overview of the project and introduces the team to get you started. This webinar highlights expectations for participation and eligibility.  We also share tools we’ve created to support your discovery process. We highly encourage you to view this webinar before attempting to complete the project survey.  Step 3. Complete Pre-survey Exploration and Worksheet: To complete the project survey will require participants to do some initial detective work to figure out where existing or emerging technological trends are showing up in your local community.  This might include reviewing city, county or school board meeting minutes, interviewing staff, web searches, asking others in your network. This data gathering process should be captured in your D4PG worksheet - provided. Step 4. Complete D4PG Survey The D4PG Online Survey is designed to collect information from communities across the country into a central repository where the D4PG team can begin to paint a picture about what is actually happening locally, regionally and nationally in regard to emerging technological trends in education.  All this information will inform the development of a heat map that traces where it is happening, what policies are in place and document how the community has been engaged in these efforts. AI NOW SHADOW REPORT ON AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING SYSTEMS IN NEW YORK  We’re proud to join over 50 organizations in endorsing #ConfrontingBlackBoxes, which provides a nuanced look at NYC’s use of automated decision making, who is impacted, and how the city could do better.  Read here https://ainowinstitute.org/ads-shadowreport-2019.html   --- To submit a call to action for our next newsletter, email newsletter@d4bl.org ---