Do new advances in technology create more of a racial equity gap? #threefifthsmagazine

I am a white CIS gendered woman and until a few years ago I didn’t see myself as a racialized person. I knew I was white but I thought everyone else (non white people) were racialized. Sounds ridiculous, right? Unfortunately, I know I am far from the only white person who has thought and maybe still thinks this way about race. It's as if we are saying: white is the standard and everyone else who isn’t white is racialized. Why am I starting off with this you may be asking? Well, if something so “simple” as this took me years to get, I have to question how much more I and other white people don’t understand about race and its impact on almost everything. I am not going to give you facts and figures. There are many people in this forum who are much more knowlegeable on this topic of technology and AI, than I am. What I can give you are my reflections from what I’ve learned and my personal experience. 

As a DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) consultant, I often work with the HR departments of organizations that are looking for ways to remove the bias from their recruitment and hiring practices by using a variety of  strategies including AI and what Trakstar Hire calls *“blind auditions”: (link to the article: https://shorturl.at/FRUZ2). According to Trakstar Hire, companies such as Good and Dolby select talent through software that allows them to do *“blind auditions''. Instead of looking at a resume and assessing an applicant based on name, schools attended, companies worked for and titles held, the only thing employers can measure is candidates’ performance on a skills-based test. The theory is that by leaving out personal information such as name, gender, race or ethnicity, the process will be based on meritocracy without any biases.

Here is what I see as some of the problems with this theory:

First, we like to think that there is no bias in AI but who will be programming the AI we are using and who will interpret the data? Secondly, even if there is less bias like it or not we still live in a world where color matters. Our race/color impacts almost every aspect of our lives and experiences. I pray for a day when color no longer “matters” but until the playing field is equal it does matter. That means we need to be aware of and sensitive to the ways that color impacts our lives. There is more than enough research that has been done pointing to the adverse impact of race and racial oppression on People of Color. Health, life expectancy, maternal death rates, anxiety, stress, mental health and many more.

There is an image that I like to use to explain the difference between equality and equity, which was created by the Interaction Institute for Social Change. This image is worth a thousand words.

When we use *“blind” auditions or hiring practices in an attempt to create equality, we are not necessarily creating Equity!

I took a course last year with Dr. Kenneth V. Hardy on Racial Trauma. He had a lot to say about the  phrase, “All lives matter”. He believes that it is essentially “code for erasing race and speaks to our pathology as a society.” When I talk about racism and oppression, I am often challenged by other white people who ask: if race is a social construct, then why isn't it real? In other words, why are we making such a big deal out of something that doesn't really exist?

According to Dr. Hardy, “Race is a social construction AND it has a real impact on many parts of our lives.” One of those impacts is Racial Trauma. Dr. Hardy believes that “Racial trauma can cause People of Color to be in survival mode all the time- sometimes spending so much time being in survival mode that they don't get to spend time on actually living.” Even further, he states in his book, “Healing the Hidden  Wounds of Racial Trauma” that racial oppression is a traumatic form of interpersonal violence, which can lacerate the spirit, scar the soul, and puncture the psyche. These are powerful and profound words that have stayed with me. They are with me now as I ponder the impact of advances in technology on People of Color. When you leave decision making to AI and utilize * “blind” hiring practices, you don’t account for the very real impact of race and racial trauma on People of Color. In my humble opinion this is why many of the new advances in technology will serve to create more of a racial equity gap.  

*I want to acknowledge that the use of the word blind is ableist language and has been used because I am quoting directly from sources. 

Robin Schlenger