The Only Black Person In ‘The Social Dilemma’ On Civil Rights And Tech

The only Black person in Netflix’s The Social Dilemma, was interviewed for over 4 hours, but in the documentary for 7 seconds. It felt egregious to me. Not just because of the optics that others have been discussing, but because Rashida Richardson is an effing genius and trailblazer who needs to be heard. 

When the film producers from The Social Dilemma reached out to Rashida, a civil rights lawyer who focuses on technology, she was initially hesitant to participate. Her take was, “I’m not like these other people that you are interviewing. They helped to develop the systems that we now see as a problem and now they conveniently realize there is a problem after they have profited from it”. But the film producers still wanted (7 seconds of) her after she divulged her concerns. 

So, I recently went over to her Brooklyn Brownstone, which her grandparents purchased in the 1940s, to discuss really interesting shit that was left out of the documentary. Of course, Rashida made me a delicious meal, because she is a phenomenal cook, and we talked and laughed for a few hours. Full disclosure: We met during law school and since that time we have become friends, dance partners, foodie buddies and more. 

So sit back and get ready for us to discuss why tech is the next big civil rights issue of our time, why Rashida doesn’t use social media, how the NYPD and FBI are preventing Brooklyn rappers from coming back to the level of Biggie and Bad Boy, having dinner at Angela Davis’s home and the real talk she gives to young Black women who reach out to her for career advice.

What do you do professionally?

I’m a civil rights lawyer that works on tech issues. 

I focus on both understanding and addressing problems on how data is used to exclude, criminalize or treat people in a negative and different way based on characteristics on who they are or where they come from.

Do you mean Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

I think AI is a clunky term that doesn’t describe the thing. It is a categorical term that refers to a suite of technologies and practices and most people don’t even define it well. So it remains an esoteric term and people just think of robots. I say ‘big data’ or ‘data driven technologies’, which is even more esoteric, but it’s accurate.

What compelled you to do this work?

I had been working on a bunch of civil rights issues over the past few years. When I started to focus on tech/privacy/surveillance at the ACLU, I began to clearly see the cross section with technology.

Where do you currently work? 

I’m currently a visiting scholar at Rutgers Law School and a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. I do public and academic research on the social and civil rights implications on big data and data driven technologies like AI and predictive analytics. 

I came to this role after being the Director of Policy Research at AI NOW Institute, the first university institute to focus on the social implications of AI. I came to that role from working at the ACLU on privacy/surveillance issues and before that I was at the Center for HIV Law and Policy.

I typically joke and say I work on a ton of issues. But, I think my background has provided me with a unique perspective on seeing how all of these issues intersect.

A lot of researchers and advocates fall into the trap where they treat big data as a monolith in itself. But it is actually just a continuation of a lot of the structural problems that have persisted in this country and globally throughout time. This is why my current research is focused on history and the political economy and I’m starting to see the matrix of how all of these things connect.

You were the only Black person in Netflix’s ‘The Social Dilemma’. Tell us about that.

Yeah. I’m the only Black person and among three people of color. And, I think that is representative of this sector.

But in this convoluted way, if you are actually looking at who is driving the main critiques of big tech or tech generally and who is driving solutions – it is not white men. Yet that is who is (predominantly) represented in the documentary and that is who created the problems.

What did you discuss in the documentary?

Those 7 seconds discuss how people are operating on different sets of facts. When they can filter out what they don’t want to hear, it becomes harder for people to reckon with information that doesn’t comport with their worldview. 

I was discussing this in conjunction with segregation, since it is the same logic. It’s easy to other and dehumanize people if you never have to see them or live near them. If the only time you see them is through Fox News, where you see the most stereotypical dramatization of what that group or individual is, misinformation can feel like facts. This is happening throughout social media.

What was missing from ‘The Social Dilemma’?

I think they did a good job at communicating the problems with the big tech business model and how that creates problems for everyone. 

I think there are a bunch of valid critiques about what and who is missing in the film. But that has to be balanced with the reality that all documentaries have a narrative and they also have to cut tons of stuff. 

That is mighty gracious of you. I wish we heard more of your perspective. Can you share?

From my perspective, and the reason why I’m only in it for 7 seconds, is that I don’t think they focused on the discrimination aspects or bias concerns enough. To be fair, there could be a whole documentary just on those issues. 

The whole reason I got in this documentary is because I did a U.S. Senate hearing on optimization algorithms in big tech where I discuss how government (mis)uses big data. 

This is not a private or public issue, but a huge grey area. Big tech and the monopoly that these companies have is a result of the government not doing anything for decades. Since the 1980s, we have not had any privacy or tech regulations and most antitrust enforcement and regulations have been watered down over time. This gets us to this current position and those are parts that they didn’t cover in the film. The fact that the US government created the foundation for the problems we are dealing with is not as sexy as painting big tech as the villain.

You almost didn’t do the documentary. Can you tell us why?

They failed to question the naivete of the white men in the film. 

When they asked me to be in it, I blew them off at first. I told them, ‘I’m not like these other people that you are interviewing . . . This is problematic since anyone who has been in this industry and tried to challenge it has either been pushed out or has had a miserable past decade.

So, a film critique is that all one has to do is get a platform and tell people what the problem is and they become a hero. This erases the structural problems within that industry that are also perpetuated by emerging technologies.

Why don’t you use social media? 

It’s funny doing the film stuff. People can’t find me or they ask about my handles. During film Q&A events moderators will ask, “Has your relationship changed with social media since making this movie?” I answer that I am an anomaly in this film. I am the only one who did not use social media prior to the film and nothing has changed since. 

It’s not even based on a principled stance. I just don’t care. I can do my own self sorting and crowd sourcing of information. I still have Facebook, from freshman year of college, but I haven’t checked it in at least 5 years.

Are there challenges to not being on social media in your field? 

The downside is that I have to do a lot to get credit for the work I am already doing.

To some people, if you don’t have a handle, you don’t exist. In some ways that is why I never want to get an account, because of that mentality. Why should I have to have a Twitter handle to be relevant or to get credit for the things I should be getting credit for?

When I was at AI Now, this would happen often. Journalists, publications, scholars, or advocates would credit the organization or its co-founders instead of crediting me as the author or lead.

I see this as a people problem, not a platform problem. Now I ask people to use a hashtag and write my name out in full, #RashidaRichardson. 

It seems like a lot of folks in the social justice tech world are building a brand for themselves. How do you feel about this? 

I’m reckoning with this now as there is a lot of money in the social justice tech space. It is the next big civil rights issue of our time.

The challenge is who is here for our liberation and who is here for personal gain? There are two camps and most are in the latter. It’s fine if we move in the same direction, but then there are personal conflicts that take away from the work. The nonprofit industrial complex is seeping into the space.  

Personally, I’m just trying to be heard to focus on the liberation of us. I’m not really interested in personal fame. But there is this tension that white people will just erase you. You have to be vigilant in how to draw that line.

So how do you address this?

I just launched my website, www.rashidarichardson.com.

I only built this site because I felt like I was being erased from the work I did. I thought, ‘What happens if this continues for another decade’? So, we have to create space so all the talent doesn’t get squandered.

Are you optimistic about the future of tech? 

I don’t know. 2020 has been such a curveball for society. In some ways, all of the fuckery of this year has helped move things that I thought would take 5-10 years. 

It was like pulling teeth to get the NY City Council and the Mayor to support the Bill on public oversight of NYPD surveillance technology. All of a sudden, after the uprisings, they acted and became advocates for the transparency of surveillance technology overnight and the Bill was passed.

In some ways, it has forced the hand of fake progressives. The low hanging fruit have been stagnant, but are now acting. 

What are the challenges as a civil rights lawyer in this field?

It is strange that people think tweeting is social change and activism. In some ways it is, I’m not trying to dilute that. #BLM and other groups have used social media well. But the three Black women who created #BLM were trained in organizing. They use Twitter as a tool, not the primary medium. 

So it has been really disorientating to work in this space and work on policy issues with so many people who have no idea how the sausage gets made in policy. I am doing the work to convince legislators and stakeholders of what they need to do but also trying to keep those I’m in coalitions with in line.

For example, I deal with some academics in data science who think they know more than community members and community organizers who are directly engaged with criminal justice issues. I use the “legitimacy” of academia to bolster the work that community members and advocates have already been doing!

That sounds mentally draining

It is a constant struggle to communicate in a way that is disarming. I have to translate racism to white people who don’t understand it and are so obsessed with their own view of themselves that seeing the word “racist” is off putting to them. 

When writing, I think, ‘How can I get you to read my whole article and get to the end where the main point is said? And how can I do this without sugar coating and not erase the existing problems?’

Do you remember when I came over so you could practice a big talk at a college? I learned so much and it was so fascinating. Can we discuss that work? 

OH that was my first keynote! You walked me through my keynote for Wesleyan University that was on predictive policing. That talk was before Dirty Data Bad Predictions was published. It examined how police departments with demonstrated civil rights violations, like Baltimore or NYC, use predictive policing technology. It is now one of the most cited law reviews from last year. 

What is Predictive Policing?

It’s a computerized information technology that tries to predict where crime may occur in a given window of time and who may be a victim or perpetrator of a crime in that window. 

It is very politicized. If a department is trying to say they are targeting property crimes because there is a rise in auto theft, they can act as if this technology is the silver bullet. 

But the problem is that most of these systems rely on dirty data.

What exactly Is Dirty Data?

It is the term from data mining that extends to include misrepresentations, inaccuracies and other errors in a data set. In the paper, I argue that dirty data also captures or reflects the policy and practices of police themselves.

For example, if you are dealing with NYC, it has had a history of prolific and racist stop and frisk policies. So, you will have police data sets that are overrepresented by Black and Brown people, even though that may not actually represent what the actual crime rate is or who is committing crime. 

Another example is that people are less likely to report crimes in communities where there is a greater level of distrust of the police. 

So these are all examples of ways that police data doesn’t actually show actual crime activity. But these systems are taking in police data as if it’s representing that. 

Is data ever accurate in these technologies? 

All data sets have issues. Period. The problem is that the dirty data aspects will vary based on what the data is used for.

Facial recognition has 2 problems. First, the data sets are usually underrepresented by POC. Those data sets are predominantly white males so they can have almost a 100% accuracy rate in matching a white man’s face but not ours.

The other problem is in the databases it’s using to do the matches. In the law enforcement context, these databases are overrepresented by POC. So the police are more likely to misidentify people in contexts where it will subject them to more scrutiny. It doesn’t work, probably never will and the few societal benefits are not worth the trade offs to society.

Have there been new concerns due to Covid-19?

Right now, considering the uprisings of earlier this year, my fear is that any type of reform that takes place will be too myopic. 

For the past 30 years, when there is an economic crisis, the government turns to private enterprise to help solve the problem. They solve for the symptom, not the cause. 

These private firms bring their solutions which optimize for efficiency but don’t equate to civil rights or anything that most people care about. These business logics are all tied to the financialization of capitalism. 

But you have to question whether the government has even identified the right problem first. That’s the problem in policing. If you are saying the problem is property crime in Black communities and not divestment in Black communities, then you are not going to actually solve the structural root cause or problem.

Are there other issues in tech that we should be cautious of?

A major issue is “automation bias” or “tech neutrality”, which is a societal problem. 

People assume that if something is based on data it is more objective than human judgment, and better. They think predictive policing is better than the beat cop. In reality, these technologies just displace discretion. They are not objective. They are human creations that reflect flaws and problems humans have. 

These flaws are easily concealed since most people don’t understand how the technology works. The public can’t see anything due to trade secrecy and IP rights. The term is “black box”, where you don’t see or understand what is happening in the system. 

What is it like as a Black person in this field? Are there others?

There are other Black people and it’s weird as hell for a lot of reasons. We not only deal with the larger white space problem of being an ultra minority in a white and male dominated space, but we also deal with people who have been segregated their whole lives. They don’t know how to deal with difference, and are unaware of how that skews their worldview. This is why it’s not shocking that big tech produces the problems we are seeing today. 

If you are building tech to solve problems for a world that you think is mostly white and male, then of course it’s not going to work for entire parts of the population. I feel like I’m always just hiding a really confused face in conferences and spaces because I think, ‘How is it that so many people have operated in the world for so long, yet are so disconnected and don’t see that at all?’.

Looking back, what would you have done differently in your career?

Ask for more money. That’s my only regret that I have learned over time. Negotiate.

I know young Black women reach out to you. What career advice do you give?

When Black women reach out to me, I tell them I don’t define myself by my work. It doesn’t consume me. I don’t measure my success as a person by career stuff. This separation is important. They have to create healthy boundaries.  

I then tell them, ‘People are not going to think you are smart. You have to work 3 times as hard for less. Also you are working against people who don’t see you as an equal or even human. You have to work in a way that challenges that worldview and proves them wrong.’

I also tell them that my approach can be a benefit and a detriment. Claudia Rankine describes it about Serena (Williams) in Citizen: An American Lyric. About not being afraid of your own excellence. When I read it, I was like, ‘Oh that’s why I scare white people in a lot of spaces! I know I’m smarter than them and I’m not afraid to show it off or correct them and say no you are wrong and you don’t know what you are talking about.’ 

But in order to do that arrogant stuff, I gotta read a million books. I have to do so much more work. It’s the rigor that I apply. This is just how I have to do the work. 

How can one prepare now, if they want yo work in this field? 

Read a lot. The issues are complex and not sectoral. If you are a civil rights attorney interested in fair housing, there is a sector. We don’t have one. You have to understand history, enough about how the tech works, and be ready to do the work I just discussed. This is the brand shit I was talking about. People think you can work like a white person and still achieve the same things. And it’s like, ‘No! We still live in a double standard’. 

Also have your own theory of change. Articulate what you want for the future. This is the problem in tech. We never talk about what it means to create an equitable and safe educational environment and the role of tech in advancing that. Instead it’s just like, lets apply tech to do X,Y,Z, and it always assumes an outcome.

Imagination work is the hardest work in this space but it is the work we need to do. For a younger person, this is important. Imagine something different. 

Do you ever feel exoticized? 

Oh yes. Since I’m Black and there are so few of us, I get invited to so many panels about shit I don’t work on. 

I know I am The comfortable, convenient Black friend. I have enough markers of prestige. I have the things that are nice to say to white people or look good to power holding people and I’m articulate. I’m also very unapologetically Black. Folks are like, ‘OH she likes being Black and talks about Black stuff’. (Readers: We were laughing our asses off here). 

I check all of the boxes that progressive white people who are looking to virtue signal with the Black friend want. Sometimes there is discomfort because I’m like, ‘I’ve got enough friends. And I especially have enough white friends’. 

I love my white friends. Most white people don’t understand our head space in some ways. I cannot be friends with a white person who I can’t talk explicitly about race and gender stuff with. If you are uncomfortable with that, we are not real friends, just acquaintances. But white people think any POC is a close friend. If they met you twice you are a “close friend”. It’s like, ‘I barely know your last name’. 

In tech it’s even weirder, because NO one has a Black friend. The stat is that 99% of white people’s network is white. Most likely, they have an Indian friend. Maybe a Black person. Maybe a Latino. Definitely not an Indigenous person. But it’s like they treat POC like pokemon and don’t think we see it. 

For me it’s always interesting and I see it as research in understanding that psychology.

What psychology?

Like someone who is a card carrying ACLU member, only votes Democrat, but wants to send their kids to private school because they don’t want to deal with challenges of public school Black people. That type of white person really likes me. And I get it. And I have an Arabic name. Like whoa! Brownie points. 

I’m this unicorn because I have all of the comforts and markers of what white people associate with whiteness. But it’s weird because they don’t understand that it’s so transparent and I’m just being polite by not saying anything, since I’m just trying to keep my job. That’s the part that is uncomfortable. That proximity thing is uncomfortable too. Like when white people think they see you, so you are friends. 

You brought up the ACLU, can we go there? 

Oh yes. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I do now if I were still at the ACLU because of the racism and hierarchy there. You can quote me on that. 

Can you explain what your quips are with the ACLU?

I think you have a problem at the ACLU because it’s a predominantly white organization (PWI) that is embedded in ideas of meritocracy. Yet a lot of the people in power have a lot of cognitive dissonance about their own racism. I think some of the people there genuinely don’t think that Black people are as smart as white people. And that’s why you have to jump through hurdles to get a memo read or a project greenlighted. And that was part of the problem of that work. We had to jump through so many hoops just to do the work that this actually deterred from the work that could have been done. 

I know a lot of Black people who have worked at the ACLU and have left due to similar experiences. Why do you think this happens?

Well there are two problems. First, people don’t want to do the research. They donate to the ACLU because it’s the most visible org and they don’t do research on local community based organizations. 

Second, the history of that org is what sustains it. I don’t think most people know the stance that the ACLU took on Citizens United and how that relates to political issues of today.

They took an ad out against Trump after the 2016 election so that’s the org liberals give to. But they don’t look at their website and question, ‘Isn’t it kind of weird that they don’t have many POC or that a bunch of POC left?’ 

Well, all POC have not left the ACLU…

Well at NYCLU (the New York affiliate) yes, most have. Part of this is that it triggers people’s complicity and how they are complicit in the larger problems of discrimination and bias. 

Is this a nonprofit industrial complex issue or only an ACLU issue? 

It’s an issue with large legal orgs. The Southern Poverty Law Center got outed . . .

It’s a question of who gets outed. I think it’s pervasive in the non-profit sector and any PWI.

White liberals holding us hostage from progress!

Yup!

Where does your drive come from? 

I feel a lot of issues viscerally. These issues are personal. 

I think growing up, my parents have always been very direct. I had a good grasp of racism and sexism in society from a young age and how THAT is the hurdle I have to work against. 

What drives me is making incremental change in society so the next young Black girl doesn’t have to have all the shitty experiences I had. I think of my little cousin, Kyan. How can I make sure that she doesn’t grow up in a society where she is not underpaid at every job that she’s had? Or the hope! For Kyan and Gibran! I want to be that for people, too! 

I come across as cynical or realist in a lot of work spaces; But, I just don’t think white people grasp how hard it is to operate in a world that’s not made for you. 

I recognize being a lawyer gives me legitimacy in spaces that another Black person may not have. I understand how that operates in society and I try to use it in a way that is productive towards the ends that I want. 

Who are your role models?

Margaret Burnham

Ahhh (laughing), let’s talk about Burnham! 

I was lucky enough to be mentored and still have a relationship with such an amazing person. I think you and I met when we were both researchers at The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) in law school.

You are now a Board Member of CRRJ, Right? Tell Us About Burnham and Angela Davis.

Yes, I’m a Board Member. Margaret Burnham is a law professor at Northeastern Law School and is also Angela Davis’s closest childhood friend. She was also Angela’s defense attorney during the infamous 1972 trial (they won, obviously).

Tell Us About Having Dinner At Angela Davis’s Home! I’ll Never Forget Your Text! 

I was in Oakland for a CRRJ event that Angela was speaking at. Right before the event, someone secretly handed me a sheet and told me that Angela is inviting us to dinner at her house after this. They said, “This is the address but you have to get rid of the sheet as soon as you get there”. 

Her house was beautiful, but I can’t publicly divulge any more than that. 

They had a huge spread and delicious wine from Montecito. Angela is vegan, but they had these amazing filets of salmon. During dinner, Margaret (Burnham) and Angela talked about growing up in the Jim Crow South together. Their families were friends and they were the same paired age amongst all the kids, so they were especially close.

Angela had given me a hug and before I left, she stopped me and said, “You look like you need another hug”. I was like OH MY GOD. 

Ok, Back To Role Models

My parents! The benefits and privileges they have provided me while helping me to understand my privilege and how to use it. I have always been hyper aware of this. 

They were very principled parents. One of my colleagues told me that I’m so principled and it’s so rare. Like, If I don’t believe there is pay equity in the workplace… I’m gonna do something. I understand that those acts lead me to being ostracized and excluded and understanding that is the trade off is something I choose to make.

In some way I have abstracted Black leader narratives so it’s hard for me to say this is the person that inspires me. I stand on the shoulders of my elders, like my grandma. The cumulative history of understanding of where I came from. 

It’s almost like a collective responsibility. That’s the problem. I don’t think white people have that same principle that I think every other non white group does. Like collective responsibility to your group and society at large. And that’s why we are in the shit we are in now.

I wanna talk about joy. You are an amazing cook . . . You dance, party, work hard you have FUN. How? 

I’m constantly trying to figure out what gives me joy and I make space for that. Tennis, food, people, doing things, nature, eating . . . 

I have community that is not tied to work. It’s probably why I don’t like social media. I know I have friends I can do things with, no matter how bad work is. 

Disconnecting is really important. I love hiking and snorkeling and staring at coral in the water. I love to disconnect and be present with those I love. 

Where are you happiest?

Preferably a tropical ocean, with others. 

During the workweek, couch time with Carl, because we decompress or sleep. On weekends, being around friends, imbibing in fun things, family stuff, watching Naomi Osaka highlight Black Power while winning the US open. I literally told Carl, ‘Naomi or Serena has to win or I don’t know if I’ll make it to election day. We need something.’

Also, seeing little people freeing their mind. Being with little kids who don’t know how fucked up the world is. 

Do You Have Any Reading Suggestions on Civil Rights and Tech? 

Yes, oh my God there are so many . . .

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Nobles, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin, Anything Dorothy Roberts writes.

I just read Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music and the Power of Online Infamy by Forrest Stuart. It is about the police targeting of gangs and youth using social media. It is similar to Desmond Patton’s work. I am a big conspiracy theorist because of the work I do. I have always jokingly said that the NYPD and FBI are just trying to stop Brooklyn rappers from ever coming back to the level of Biggie and Bad Boy. Like when they put Bobby Shmurda away using the NYPD gang database. 

It’s important to understand what the hell is happening now and what happened in the past, so we can understand where we are going in the future. 

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Thanks Rashida!

P.S. How Artificial Intelligence Is Disrupting Cyberbanging