In Brazil, one of the largest populations of uncounted people are the more than 5,900 Quilombola communities across the country. Quilombolas are descendants of Africans who escaped enslavement, established communities (often rural), and self-declared themselves as having a distinct ethnic identity from the rest of Brazilian society. Quilombola communities span countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador , Suriname, Honduras , Belize, and Nicaragua , and they have often been guaranteed specific territorial rights to protect their shared ancestry, social fabric, and existence.
The rise in big data and artificial intelligence has weaponized, excluded, disadvantaged, and exacerbated the inequities faced by oppressed communities. In the United States, President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to exclude immigrants from census data—plus the gerrymandering that has increasingly distorted district representation—show that the way the population is counted matters. Yet if data were calculated and reported with integrity, then people could actually be seen, with all their needs and rights recognized.
The rise in big data and artificial intelligence has weaponized, excluded, disadvantaged, and exacerbated the inequities
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