zlacker

>>jbegle+(OP)
Post US Civil war, we encoded a set of rules that on their face did not discriminate on race. But their effect was basically to prevent black people from voting and enjoying their civil liberties.

Now we are encoding these biases into models built with mass surveillance. Many of us upper middle class white folks turn a blind eye. Subconsciously we know that’s not really targeting us. “We have nothing to hide” is the battle cry of the apathetic middle class person... when you trace the origin not just to law and order but the “war on terrorism” the relationship to race is even more depressing.

Maybe when we examine deeper we see those using the tools of mass surveillance look like us (heck are from this industry!). This same people working in the surveillance industry only imagine getting the “bad guys” not people that look like them!

On their face this has nothing to do with race. Examine deeper and you see, it’s far easier to take away civil liberties when it’s the “other” it’s being taken away from. Where the in group can blissfully rationalize what’s happening to get on with their day

>>softwa+Au
> we encoded a set of rules that on their face did not discriminate on race. But their effect was basically to prevent black people from voting and enjoying their civil liberties.

That is quite a claim. I am neither agreeing or disagreeing, as I don't know enough about this. Could you share some specific examples of the rules that you are referring to and evidence that they were intended to prevent black people from voting and enjoying their civil liberties?

>>yosito+7E
The parent is referring (not that accurately) to the variety of laws known as Jim Crow[1]. It's remarkable that these aren't widely if not universally known today. They were effectively eliminated by the Voting Rights Act[2].

Note, that Jim Crow was enacted not immediately after the Civil War but after the reconstruction period[3]. The aftermath of reconstruction involved a period of racist terror where the Ku Klux Klan and other forces effectively engaged in a guerilla campaign that restored white supremacy in the South.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era

>>joe_th+xG
It's also important to mention the Black Codes[1], which were, effectively, a reimplementation of slavery that just didn't use the word "slave".

Many of these laws existed before the Civil War, and were simply "updated" to replace the word "slave" with "freedman".

Other laws cleverly redefined common terms, introducing technical language, so that they could claim that a former slave, forced to work for little or no pay, was "serving an apprenticeship" or "being punished for vagrancy". E.g., a slave in reality, but "on paper" an apprentice, a volunteer, serving a criminal sentence, etc.

Black Codes also severely limited the ability of black citizens to gather and organize, required impossible "literacy tests" to vote, and prevented black citizens from owning any type of weapon, either outright:

Louisiana: "No freedman shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons."

Or via a "may issue" licensing scheme:

Alabama: "Freedmen must not carry knives or firearms unless they were licensed so to do."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)