Building Black Political Power in the Age of Big Data
In 2012, for the first time in American history, Black people had the highest rate of voter turnout of any racial or ethnic group. And advances in data and technology have created new opportunities to expand the political power of Black people and hold institutions accountable. SMS technology has demonstrated tremendous potential to turnout Black voters, and automatic voter registration is gaining momentum across the country. Meanwhile, groups of mathematicians and lawyers are developing innovative new metrics for gerrymandering to hold legislators accountable.
And yet 2.2 million Black voters are missing from the political process. These are men and women who have been denied the right to vote because of past criminal convictions. This number does not include the millions of Black people nationwide who never make it to the polls. A complex web of laws, tactics, and practices – from voter ID laws and gerrymandering to “crosscheck” and voter intimidation – have eroded the most fundamental right of citizenship in Black communities across the country. T his panel will explore areas where scientists and organizers can work together to protect this fundamental right.
Moderator: Rahsaan Hall
Participants: Marc Elias, Leah Aden, Moon Duchin, and Ejike Obineme
Data for Black Lives Statement of Solidarity with Black Minnesotans
Data for Black Lives Statement of Solidarity with Black Minnesotans
Data for Black Lives Statement of Solidarity with Black Minneapolis -- Campaign to stop the Cradle to Prison Algorithm
Data 4 Black Lives Catalog
Data 4 Black Lives Catalog
Catalog of datasets related underserved communities. An intermediate between community organizers and data scientists.
MJ Salon: Big Data for Big Organizing: Reducing Harm and Advancing Justice
MJ Salon: Big Data for Big Organizing: Reducing Harm and Advancing Justice
Data, noun. Things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation. Data, often presented as objective and unbiased governs much of the public policy that affects the lives of poor people and people of color. Join this important discussion featuring activists and organi...
D4BL Movement Roundtable | Abolition & Self Determination
D4BL Movement Roundtable | Abolition & Self Determination
We convened a roundtable of organizers, activists, and practitioners to discuss how we can organize, mobilize and coordinate in this moment and for the long haul. Together, we ask the questions - what does it mean for us to practice liberation in this moment? To demand and build the infrastructur...
D4BL II Welcome
D4BL II Welcome
Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Yeshimabeit Milner, D4BL Executive Director (10 min)
Closing Panel: What is a Movement Scientist?
Closing Panel: What is a Movement Scientist?
Defeating Jim Crow required an army of lawyers and a national legal strategy. But new forms of racism and oppression demand new forms of activism and resistance. And scientists are answering the call. From academics and professional researchers to the everyday citizen scientists among us, people ...
D4BL Movement Roundtable | Abolition & Self Determination
D4BL Movement Roundtable | Abolition & Self Determination
We convened a roundtable of organizers, activists, and practitioners to discuss how we can organize, mobilize and coordinate in this moment and for the long haul. Together, we ask the questions - what does it mean for us to practice liberation in this moment? To demand and build the infrastructur...
Pain, Place, and Race
Pain, Place, and Race
In cities like Chicago and Baltimore, where you live determines the length and quality of your life. Life expectancies range from the mid-80s in more affluent neighborhoods to 60s in the poorest communities. From gun violence to opioid addiction to suicide to sexual violence, Black and Brown comm...
Amazon is selling facial recognition software to the police - here's why it matters.
Amazon is selling facial recognition software to the police - here's why it matters.
In a country where we’re still trying to end the dangerous culture of racial profiling - from Starbucks to student lounges to public spaces - we won’t allow one of the biggest tech companies to use their immense resources to fuel the incarceration machine. Facial recognition software is most...
Data for Black Lives COVID-19 Movement Pulse Check and Roundtable Report
Data for Black Lives COVID-19 Movement Pulse Check and Roundtable Report
On April 15, 2020 the Data for Black Lives Movement held a roundtable to serve as a pulse check for our movement. Today we release the report of this historic event, a culmination of voices and expertise that provides a roadmap for how we must coordinate, organize and mobilize during this crisis ...
Closing Keynote and Farewell
Closing Keynote and Farewell
Keynote Address: Ronald Sullivan Farewell: Yeshimabeit Milner, Lucas Mason-Brown, and Max Clermont
The Impact of COVID-19 on Black Communities
The Impact of COVID-19 on Black Communities
In this critical moment, COVID-19 data is being collected, released, analyzed, interpreted, and used to inform recovery and response efforts. D4BL has worked to consolidate state level data to explore the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black people in the US. The D4BL COVID-19 Dataset cap...
24th Session of the OHCHR Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
24th Session of the OHCHR Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent public session Data for Racial Justice will be held in Geneva from 25-29 March 2019. This thematic session will involve specific focus on its mapping exercise and bring together experts to discuss the human rights situation of people of A...
Building in a Crisis
Building in a Crisis
From my desk, as the Founder of a movement that has found its purpose during the storm and its focus in the whirlwind, we are not celebrating the end of one crisis and the beginning of another manufactured one, but our resilience and persistence. And we are strapping in for the long haul.
Just Equations' Sixth Annual Conference
Just Equations' Sixth Annual Conference
In April 2024, Yeshi Milner delivered a powerful opening keynote at Just Equations’ sixth annual conference, titled The Mathematics of Opportunity: Closing the Divide.
D4BL I
D4BL I
On November 17-19 2017 we brought together community members, organizers, academics, technologists, educators, artists, policy makers, and public servants for the inaugural Data for Black Lives conference at the MIT Media Lab.
What is Data for Black Lives?
What is Data for Black Lives?
Data for Black Lives is a movement of activists, organizers, and mathematicians committed to the mission of using data science to create concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people. Since the advent of computing, big data and algorithms have penetrated virtually every aspect of ou...
Yeshimabeit Milner FAccT 2021 Keynote
Yeshimabeit Milner FAccT 2021 Keynote
In this keynote address at the FAcct 2021 Conference, Founder & Executive Director Yeshimabeit Milner calls on researchers to do more than push for fairness, accountability and transparency-- but to demand justice, power and self-determination in the fight to make data as a tool for social chang...
Data for Black Lives Statement in Solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸
Data for Black Lives Statement in Solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸
We at Data for Black Lives stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to Israeli Apartheid.
D4BL II Welcome
D4BL II Welcome
Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Yeshimabeit Milner, D4BL Executive Director (10 min)
No More Data Weapons
No More Data Weapons
Data for Black Lives is launching #NoMoreDataWeapons. No more investing in Data Weapons, No more building new Data Weapons, No more disguising Data Weapons as legitimate and neutral.
CA Reparations Task Force
CA Reparations Task Force
The state of California is the first and only state to have created a state body dedicated to the study and proposal of reparations. On January 27 I gave expert testimony on discrimination in technology to the California Task Force to Study and Develop a Proposal for Reparations at the first meet...
Abolish Big Data
Abolish Big Data
Abolition means the creation of something new - the history of big data and a prophecy for big data abolition.
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Opening Remarks and Keynote Address
Conference Welcome: Rafael Reif, President of MIT (5 min) Opening Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Yeshimabeit Milner, D4BL Executive Director (20 min) Keynote Address: Ruha Benjamin (45 min)
Amazon is selling facial recognition software to the police - here's why it matters.
Amazon is selling facial recognition software to the police - here's why it matters.
In a country where we’re still trying to end the dangerous culture of racial profiling - from Starbucks to student lounges to public spaces - we won’t allow one of the biggest tech companies to use their immense resources to fuel the incarceration machine. Facial recognition software is most...
Automating (In)justice: Policing and Sentencing in the Algorithm Age
Automating (In)justice: Policing and Sentencing in the Algorithm Age
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world, and Black communities are disproportionately impacted by this mass incarceration. The disparities are staggering: although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers are white, three quarters of those imprisoned for these crimes...
What's up with FACIAL RECOGNITION? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 2, Season 1
What's up with FACIAL RECOGNITION? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 2, Season 1
What's up with facial recognition? Facial recognition technology has become well integrated into so many parts of our lives. We unlock our phones with our face, Facebook can automatically recognize our friends' faces, and (most concerning) law enforcement can easily recognize our faces in picture...
Data for Black Lives COVID-19 Movement Pulse Check and Roundtable Report
Data for Black Lives COVID-19 Movement Pulse Check and Roundtable Report
On April 15, 2020 the Data for Black Lives Movement held a roundtable to serve as a pulse check for our movement. Today we release the report of this historic event, a culmination of voices and expertise that provides a roadmap for how we must coordinate, organize and mobilize during this crisis ...
AI Now Institute: Confronting Black Boxes: A Shadow Report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force
AI Now Institute: Confronting Black Boxes: A Shadow Report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force
In 2017, New York City became the first US jurisdiction to create a task force to come up with recommendations for government use of Automated decision systems (ADS). This report is a community powered shadow report that provides a comprehensive record of what happened during the Task Force’s rev...
D4BL II
D4BL II
This weekend we will turn a critical eye to the role that data and technology have played in Black communities. In panels, workshops, and over meals, we will chart out a bold new vision for the future, in which data is used in novel ways to build progressive movements and promote civic engagement...
Introducing #NoMoreDataWeapons | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 1, Season 2
Introducing #NoMoreDataWeapons | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 1, Season 2
Data for Black Lives is launching #NoMoreDataWeapons. No more investing in data weapons, no more building new data weapons, no more disguising data weapons as legitimate and neutral.
What is PREDICTIVE POLICING? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 4, Season 1
What is PREDICTIVE POLICING? | Crash Course: Data for Black Lives | Episode 4, Season 1
What is predictive policing? Well, if you've seen the movie Minority Report, you already have a bit of an idea. Predictive policing involves using algorithms to analyze massive amounts of information in order to predict and help prevent potential future crimes. In this episode of the Crash Course...
We are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For: Organizing for Algorithmic Accountability
We are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For: Organizing for Algorithmic Accountability
As algorithms and automated decisions continue to impact every aspect of our lives, in Black communities nationwide these decision-making systems animate already existing structures of oppression and inequality. From risk assessments to school enrollment algorithms to child predictive analytics a...
Abolition in the Age of Big Data
Abolition in the Age of Big Data
Fingerprints, facial recognition, background checks, gang databases, FBI lists, social media surveillance, credit scores: data has always been central to the expansion of the prison industrial complex, the immigration enforcement industry, and the financialization of our economy. Abolition is...
24th Session of the OHCHR Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
24th Session of the OHCHR Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent public session Data for Racial Justice will be held in Geneva from 25-29 March 2019. This thematic session will involve specific focus on its mapping exercise and bring together experts to discuss the human rights situation of people of A...
Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium
Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium
On Friday, March 22, Yeshimabeit Milner will speak at the Ohio State Technology Law Journal Symposium. Her remarks will expand upon the Data for Black Lives #NoMoreDataWeapons campaign, calling attention to harmful applications of AI in the criminal justice system. Please join us in person or via...
MKE Tech Podcast S:3 Ep.5 Data for Black Lives
MKE Tech Podcast S:3 Ep.5 Data for Black Lives
The MKE Tech Podcast focuses on driving equity and diversity in tech and startup spaces. In this episode, Yeshimabeit Milner shares the origin story of Data for Black Lives, and highlights the #NoMoreDataWeapons campaign among other urgent initiatives.
Yeshimabeit Milner | Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center
Yeshimabeit Milner | Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center
This keynote was delivered by our founder and CEO, Yeshimabeit Milner on Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center on February 23, 2024 at 5 PM. The event was hosted in partnership with the Barnard Department of Computer Science and Barnard Library. London-...
Data Activism + Decompress
Data Activism + Decompress
This keynote was delivered by our founder and CEO, Yeshimabeit Milner on Data Activism at The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Memorial + Education Center on February 23, 2024 at 5 PM. The event was hosted in partnership with the Barnard Department of Computer Science and Barnard Library. London-...
D4BL I
D4BL I
On November 17-19 2017 we brought together community members, organizers, academics, technologists, educators, artists, policy makers, and public servants for the inaugural Data for Black Lives conference at the MIT Media Lab.
D4BL III
D4BL III
November 18-20, 2024 at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami.