AISP Toolkit Feb25 2025 - Flipbook - Page 2
Societal “progress” is often marked by the construction of new
infrastructure that fuels change and shifts the landscape. Just as
railroads and interstate highways were the de昀椀ning infrastructure
projects of the 1800s and 1900s, the development of data
infrastructure is a critical innovation of our century.
Railroads and highways were drivers of development and prosperity
for some. Yet other individuals and communities were harmed,
displaced, bypassed, or ignored by those efforts.
As railroads and highways both developed and
decimated communities, so too can data infrastructure.
At this moment in our history, we can co-create data infrastructure
to promote racial equity and the public good, or we can invest
in data infrastructure that disregards the historical, social, and
political context—reinforcing racial inequity that continues to
harm communities. Building data infrastructure without a racial
equity lens and understanding of historical context will exacerbate
existing inequalities along the lines of race, gender, class, and
ability. Instead, we commit to contextualize our work in the
historical and structural oppression that shapes it, and organize
partners across geography, sector, and experience to center racial
equity in data infrastructure.
