Eva: The Power of Data

Data itself provides an entirely neutral stance. There is no such thing as a positive or negative data set, data just is. That being said, data can be used to push narratives and twisted to serve agendas when misused. An example of data being misused is when people attempt to negate the police brutality against POC (especially black individuals) by highlighting 'how often' white people are shot by police. A specific case where this happened is in our past president, Donald Trump. He responded to the question ' why are African- Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement?' in context of George Floyd's death by saying "And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people. More white people by the way. More white people." (Guardian). His response reflects an unfortunate narrative carried by many white supremacists, that entirely negates the application of statistics. While it is true that more people who are white are killed annually by police in the US, Black Americans are killed at a much higher rate.

Applying data in the way Trump did is a misuse of data because there are more people who are white in America, therefore it makes more sense for there to be higher rates of anything amongst a more populated demographic. Yet, when compared to the overall population of black folks versus how many black individuals deal with police brutality, racial bias behind police brutality is unfortunately crystal clear.

Data can be used for good when it is collected honestly, uses scientific measure to ensure accuracy and a lack of bias, and when the intention is to prove science, not an agenda. Data should not be used for personal or narrative gain, yet it must be used to prove scientific facts. This is how we can keep the integrity of data and discourage people using it for their own gain.

Resources Cited

Walters, Joanna. (2020).Trump twists stats on police brutality: 'more white people' are killed. The Guardian.