We Will Be Counted: the 2020 Census

Black People vs Robots: Reparations and Workers Rights in the Age of Automation

In 2009, 13% of the US population were either self-employed or working as independent contractors, in 2016 this number had doubled. And from Silicon Valley to the US Supreme court, the rights of workers are under attack. At the same time, robots capable of driving cars, assembling goods, and cari...

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.

Algorithmic Justice: Race, Bias, and Big Data

Speakers will discuss algorithms, race, and justice–the problems and the possibilities.

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...

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

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 🇵🇸

We at Data for Black Lives stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to Israeli Apartheid.

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 ...

Opening Remarks and Keynote Address

Opening​ ​Remarks​ ​and​ ​Introduction​ ​of​ ​Keynote​ ​Speaker:​​ ​​Yeshimabeit​ ​Milner, D4BL​ ​Executive​ ​Director​ ​(10​ ​min) Keynote​ ​Address:​​ ​​Meredith Broussard​​ ​​(45​ ​min) Poetry: Joy Buolamwini (5 min)

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...

D4BL I Thank You

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

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...

“The seas are rising but so are the people”: Data, Disaster & Collective Power

For many Black communities, a storm of policies and practices hit well before the first rains of Katrina, Harvey, Matthew or Florence. And everyday, these storms rage in plain sight. Climate change has magnified the devastating impact of displacement driven by unbearable housing costs. It has rev...

Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Education Justice and Mathematics

Almost 65 years after the US Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v Board of Education, public education in this country remains fundamentally separate and unequal. In general, white children from affluent backgrounds receive a world-class public education (OECD), while Black and brown children from lo...

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...

Apartheid Is an Algorithm

On October 14, 2023, Founder & CEO Yeshimabeit Milner delivered the keynote speech Apartheid Is an Algorithm at the Milky Way Tech Summit held at Northwestern Mutual Financial in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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...

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...

Opening Remarks and Keynote Address

Opening​ ​Remarks​ ​and​ ​Introduction​ ​of​ ​Keynote​ ​Speaker:​​ ​​Yeshimabeit​ ​Milner, D4BL​ ​Executive​ ​Director​ ​(10​ ​min) Keynote​ ​Address:​​ ​​Meredith Broussard​​ ​​(45​ ​min) Poetry: Joy Buolamwini (5 min)

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...

D4BL I Thank You

What is Data Capitalism?

Data for Black Lives and Demos released a groundbreaking new report addressing data capitalism and offering solutions that build power for Black and brown communities. In the age of "big data" and surveillance, we need to be concerned about more than just personal privacy. Take a look at how d...

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)

Data Capitalism and Algorithmic Racism

​​​​​Big companies are using data to preserve the power imbalance that keeps them rich. This economic model is rooted in chattel slavery and relies on the extraction and commodification of data.

“The seas are rising but so are the people”: Data, Disaster & Collective Power

For many Black communities, a storm of policies and practices hit well before the first rains of Katrina, Harvey, Matthew or Florence. And everyday, these storms rage in plain sight. Climate change has magnified the devastating impact of displacement driven by unbearable housing costs. It has rev...

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...

An Open Letter to Facebook from the Data for Black Lives Movement

Give Black researchers, data scientists and Black communities access to our data.

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

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...

Opening Panel: Data for Black Lives

Since the advent of computing, big data and algorithms have penetrated virtually every aspect of our social and economic lives. New data systems have tremendous potential to empower communities of color. Tools like statistical modeling, data visualization, and crowd-sourcing, in the right hands, ...

Abolish Big Data - UCI Bren ICS

At the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences Abstract: Bid Data is more than a collection of technologies, more than a revolution in measurement and prediction. It has become a philosophy, an ideological regime, one that determines how decisions are made ad who makes the,...

Data Intersections 2020 | The University of Miami Institute for Data Science & Computing

Big Data is more than a collection of technologies, more than a revolution in measurement and prediction. It has become a philosophy, an ideological regime, one that determines how decisions are made and who makes them. It has given legitimacy to a new form of social and political control, one th...

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...