Fighting for Civil Rights in the Age of Technological Innovation

On September 8th, 2014 I was sworn in as member of the third class of Presidential Innovation Fellows, a program launched by the Obama Administration to bring top technical talent into the federal government to work on some of its most challenging problems. From the beginning, the idea of the fellowship was a gamble— much was unknown as to whether the administration would be able to attract the talent needed, or even whether the fellows would be able to make any significant progress on their designated projects once they showed up. As someone who had devoted a significant amount of time to projects in the civic technology space, and given my desire to connect those projects to larger institutions, the fellowship represented a door that I was glad they had taken the risk to open.

The opportunity ultimately afforded me a seat at the table as the administration began to deal with the national movement for police reform that swelled after Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO on August 9, 2014. As the administration debated how to respond, a colleague and I found ourselves sitting in a room normally filled with lawyers and policymakers with an opportunity to contribute a different perspective to the conversation. While we were met with some skepticism initially, the public outcry for justice demanded that a wide range of possible solutions be considered. Because the administration had already been building a team in the Office of the U.S. Chief Technology Officer that was keen on bringing the perspectives of tech and innovation to these policy discussions, we worked with them to propose a path forward for broader public access to data about police-citizen interactions.

Ultimately, we launched the Police Data Initiative, which at its core sought to empower local communities in building trust between law enforcement and residents with data and transparency at the foundation of building that relationship. It was a solution born of our experience working in the civic technology and government open data spaces prior to joining the administration. By the time we left, the project had grown to include over 130 law enforcement agencies committed to sharing data publicly, and over 200 data sets released. Not only did this work help lead to more transparency and accountability in some communities, but it also helped set a national model for how data can serve as a neutral convener and be used to drive important conversations around policy reform, particularly those that involve discriminatory treatment of residents.

A team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers working on public policy was an unlikely configuration in 2014, but this work demonstrated a shifting landscape where still more seats were being added to the table.

A team of technologists, lawyers, and policymakers working on public policy was an unlikely configuration in 2014, but this work, alongside other impactful projects in the administration, demonstrated a shifting landscape where still more seats were being added to the table. It proved what could be accomplished when conversations that were previously kept in the closed circle of policy advisors were opened to new voices and innovative approaches. I joined New America as a Public Interest Technology fellow hoping to build on this momentum.

Over the past year I’ve explored opportunities for further emeshing tech and innovation tools and approaches within the civil rights and social justice space. This has included working with legacy organizations like the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights in order to understand their work and the evolving role they can play as a well-respected advocacy institution, as well as spending time with newer organizations like Raheem.AI, a civic-tech nonprofit that collects data and stories about resident encounters with law enforcement. By working with newer organizations in the social justice space, I gained a clearer understanding of how small and scrappy projects are building social justice and technology into their core missions. In part, my goal for the year was to figure out how to bridge the gap between the two ends of this spectrum— how to unite larger organizations who hold sway on policy but are behind on innovative tactics with smaller organizations who lack established reputations but intuitively understand the powerful nexus of technology, data, and organizing, in order to leverage the comparative advantages of both for real gains. I believe there is a lot of opportunity in the gap.

Because civil and human rights are under intense daily assault, there is little time and resources left for exploring new approaches to problem-solving, particularly those that are technology driven.

While I saw progress in bridging that gap, it has been slower than I had originally hoped. Due to the current climate in which civil and human rights are under intense daily assault, there is little time and resources left for exploring new approaches to problem-solving, particularly those that are technology driven. But regardless of whether they have time to explore, the pace of innovation isn’t slowing. New approaches that embrace technology as a central tool for fighting civil rights battles will be absolutely critical to the success of these organizations in the coming decades. Organizations like the ACLU are showing what is possible when legacy organizations are able to marshall resources toward technology and innovation in moments of crisis. Their work to not only bring in and support technical talent, but to use data visualization and technical tools to educate, engage, and mobilize their members around complex policy issues such as gerrymandering is an prime example of opportunity that lies in the aforementioned gap.

Work like that of the ACLU provides a North Star for the field. Their efforts can provide a blueprint for others, and ultimately, if successful at increasing their ability to register and engage voters around the protection of civil liberties, it will further underscore the need for these capabilities to exist more broadly in the civil rights and social justice communities. It is work that I remain invested in, and moving forward I intend to highlight examples of success and possibility in this space, as well as offering my time to collaborate with those who are pushing new approaches for solving some of our most urgent issues as a nation.