Racial Disparity Program Advances in NC


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Local and national events have pushed the subject of race, equality, and equity to the top of the city of Ashville, NC’s (6% Latino population) political agenda. In a response to widespread public acclaim, city officials have put forth an ambitious $433,000 initiative to establish an Office of Equity and Diversity as well as a plan for a racial disparity study of their community. Ashville’s City Council will review the plan, which is set to cost the city $350,000, during meetings in September 2016. The newly funded Office of Equity and Diversity will cost the city $110,000 this year and nearly $150,000 annually going forward. Staff have yet to be hired for the new department. “Statistics and other evidence can be used to show decisions and practices have discriminatory ...

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Author: Racism Exists in Math and More


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A new book by mathematician Cathy O’Neil details the ways that math is being “used” to create (both intentionally and unintentionally) further racial inequities and inequalities in the United States. In a new book entitled Weapons of Math Destruction, O’Neil shows how algorithms and data, which are used in everything from targeted advertising to insurance rates to police presence, are often being used against minorities. “I worried about the separation between technical models and real people, and about the moral repercussions of that separation,” O’Neil wrote in the book. In her book, O’Neil’s models all use proxies as stand-ins for what people are actually trying to measure. For example, police officers analyze zip codes to deploy patrols, employers also use ...

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