"The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans..." That is a statement straight out of a Senate Intelligence Committee Report on the 2016 presidential cycle. But did you know that there is a history of Russia using race to to interfere in United States politics? We bring Mutale Nkonde to the front of the class for a history lesson on Russian propaganda tools and a discussion on the intersection of race and technology.

#FirstCivicAction
Mutale Nkonde’s shares her #FirstCivicAction which was with our teacher L. Joy and Higher Heights. She attended a day party held by Higher Heights which inspired her to #GetCivicallyEngaged.

Our Guest
Mutale Nkonde is an AI policy analyst and researcher based in New York City. She started her career as a 2018-19 fellow at Data & Society, a Research Institute in New York City and works at the intersection of race, technology, and policy. Nkonde has been working as a senior tech policy advisor for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke since 2016. She was part of the team that helped introduce the Algorithmic Accountability Act into the House of Representatives in April 2019, and is currently considering a series of data privacy proposals. She is also the founder of the Dorothy Vaughn Tech Symposium, a briefing series that takes place on Capitol Hill. Her work has been covered in MIT Tech Review, WIRED, Venture Crunch, Muse and PBS News Hour, as well as being a co-author of a report on racial literacy and tech, and she speaks widely on race, policy, and AI.

Episode Reading List

When the Soviet Union Tried to Woo Black America - Ozy

The History of Russian Involvement in America's Race Wars - The Atlantic

A brief history of Russia exploiting American racism to manipulate US politics - Quartz

Free Speech in the Age of Algorithmic Megaphones - Wired

Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans on Social Media - NY Times

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism - Safiya Noble