In reading <\/span>Lynching, Visualization, and Visibility, <\/span><\/i>I am very interested in the ways that public discourse shapes the way in which we collect and record data. \u00a0This issue is well understood in terms of violence against African-Americans. Until anti-lynching activists gathered and published data about the number of lynchings that took place and where they occured, there was no official record on these events. \u00a0I believe that this creates a pernicious feedback loop that enables more lynchings to occur. Because of the government\u2019s ignorance towards these acts of hate, so many go undocumented. As a result, when research is published about this violence, there is a drastic underestimation of lynchings which results in an underwhelming public response. \u00a0I believe that this allows violence to persist while forcing researchers and advocates to dig deep in the shadows for evidence. This is the true evil power of data invisibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

This phenomena is not unique to lynching though. This same ignorance can be seen in our attitude towards police brutality. \u00a0While the federal government gathers no official records of police brutality, the records that do exist at the federal Justice Department are known to undercount these records. \u00a0While the recent killings of certain African-Americans bring police violence to the headlines, it’s important to realize that these events do not represent a rise in violence but rather a \u201cfill in the blanks\u201d. \u00a0These events have always occurred. By choosing not to record them however, they do not get the public attention they deserve. This is a serious issue and another example of data inequality that exists in our society. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In EC\u2019s response, <\/span>Lynching Data?, <\/span><\/i>they believe that by eliminating the story or context surrounding data, one is in turn eliminating the effect that raw data has on us. \u00a0I agree with EC because data without context is less accurate. In the case of Lynching, seeing a visual representation of lynchings in the southeastern United States is misleading. \u00a0While the data does represent the aggregate number of lynchings, it\u2019s important to know that these data points were not actually recorded at the time. This information gives us valuable insight to how society saw African-Americans at the time which is important in understand the power dynamics of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In reading Lynching, Visualization, and Visibility, I am very interested in the ways that public discourse shapes the way in which we collect and record data.  This issue is well understood in terms of violence against African-Americans. Until anti-lynching activists gathered and published data about the number of lynchings that took place and where they … <\/p>\n

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