Data or opinion?

Abstract

I believe, with proper data comes better decisions and considerations. It is a fact that we have long been collecting data about oppression of Black and marginalized communities. Unfortunately, data collection methods often exclude segments of the population, commonly BIPOC communities. My long-term goals include focusing on implementing data-driven and human-centered solutions to social problems like hunger and education. It is not a secret that the most marginalized of us are also the most affected by food apartheid. Black people living in rural communities are 2.5 times more likely to be at risk of hunger compared to white counterparts. There is a growing need in the public policy sectors for professionals to analyze the raw data continuously generated on these issues. I believe my role as a Black Data Scientist extends beyond deriving software and modeling data—it is my duty to minimize the bias in data. This spans from how the data are collected, analyzed, and converted into useful insights. Growing up in Zimbabwe, one thing was clear; my escape route to survival was through education. I was raised in a low-income family; my father was a truck driver, and my mother was a housewife. In early 2007, my father had a rare and lethal condition, meningitis. When my father died, my world collapsed with him. My mother had no work experience, no education, or access to resources to ensure our family had the basics such as food and education. This lived experience means that I have been in the shoes of those whom non-governmental organization’s solutions aim to target. It also means that I have experienced the effects of the gap between data and policy as a Zimbabwean national. I was once a part of the 90% of starving children in Africa. However, because of government policies barring international organizations and non-governmental organizations from alleviating the pain, these solutions never reached me. My family and I just remained data points. At the age of 16, I copped a life changing opportunity. I was selected as one of three Zimbabwean students to attend United World College (UWC) in Eswatini. Hunger and poverty in Eswatini was as rampant as it was in Zimbabwe. In addition, because of the international community at UWC, with over 60 countries represented, I learned that these problems did not only exist in Africa. I became more aware of the system of oppression against BIPOC communities in North America through my yearlong Civic Engagement fellowship with Up-to-Us (a bipartisan umbrella organization of Net Impact). UWC and Up-to-Us provided me with a holistic and integrated dimension of world issues; this ignited my motivation to make a difference. Data science came naturally to me, and I saw it as my tool to continue fighting injustices. As an undergraduate at Earlham College, I am learning about the skills and bias related to data collection, analysis, and interpretation. I am working on my senior capstone project: Using Machine Learning to Predict Social Unrests. I am incorporating metrics such as GDP, GNI, discrimination proxies, and poverty rates to try to predict where there may be social unrests. I aim to use this tool to pinpoint locations where aid and policy changes are needed before the lack of support have a permanent and damaging effect on communities. I am applying to graduate school where I plan to get my masters and eventually PhD in Data Science so that I can dedicate my research to proving our oppression and experiences are more than data points. I want to leave a tangible impact with my work—one that will last for generations to come. The world continues to move into an era dominated by technology, and it is important that these tools do not hide systematic oppression and inequities among marginalized communities. I acknowledge my privilege to be graduating college. I view this privilege as an opportunity to guide younger people to finish college and inspire the idea of there being light at the end of the tunnel. One of the things you cannot buy someone is hope, but I do believe you can share with others. I continuously find ways to share my experience as a Rising Black Scientist to render hope to those who look like me and might doubt themselves. Through the “This is my story program” I co-founded during my gap year before college, I keep in touch with several of my mentees to continuously encourage them. I recognize that as a Black male, it is also my role to let my Black women counterparts feel seen and heard. While I cannot fully relate to their experience, I share stories of successful Black women in my outreach because I believe in the importance of young Black women having role models in science.