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Due to circumstances beyond our control, this event has been CANCELLED.

Weill Hall, Annenberg Auditorium
735 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109

FOR REMOTE PARTICIPANTS: Video from this talk will be streamed live. A URL will appear here for this event’s live video stream at a later date.

Organizing for Algorithmic Justice: Lessons from Data for Black Lives

BACKGROUND

Data for Black Lives is a group 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 our social and economic lives. These new data systems have tremendous potential to empower communities of color. Tools like statistical modeling, data visualization, and crowd-sourcing, in the right hands, are powerful instruments for fighting bias, building progressive movements, and promoting civic engagement.

But history tells a different story, one in which data is too often wielded as an instrument of oppression, reinforcing inequality and perpetuating injustice. Redlining was a data-driven enterprise that resulted in the systematic exclusion of Black communities from key financial services. More recent trends like predictive policing, risk-based sentencing, and predatory lending are troubling variations on the same theme. Today, discrimination is a high-tech enterprise.

SPEAKER BIO

Max Clermont is co-founder & head of policy with Data for Black Lives in Cambridge, MA. Prior to his role at D4BL, Clermont served as chief of staff at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Trauma Center. He is a former project manager with 270 Strategies, a public engagement firm in Chicago, IL that works with political campaigns and causes in the design and implementation of advocacy strategy. He focused on helping leaders and organizations enhance the experience of the communities they represent and find better ways to encourage meaningful action. Before joining 270, Clermont was a Regional Field Director in Florida for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. He has previously held positions with the 2012 Presidential Inaugural Committee, Brown University’s School of Public Health, Partners In Health, and Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Clermont holds a B.A. and M.P.H. from Brown University’s School of Public Health with a concentration in health services, policy & practice. He serves on the board of Brown University’s Alumni Association and is the senior political adviser to the Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke, MA.

This event is co-sponsored with the Program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy Speaker Series.