- 9 months ago
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🛠️
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03:30And Esenay Kalou, two-time Olympian, WNBA alum, and non-profit founder.
03:36I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.
03:44I'm about to lose control, and I think I like it.
03:48I'm so excited.
03:50I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.
03:54And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.
03:58How y'all doing? Y'all excited? We're here to celebrate culture, diversity, equity, inclusion, right?
04:08My name is Ebony McMorris. Look, I'm excited to be here because, as the announcer said, I'm in the White House every day.
04:15And I see literally every day how propaganda has become policy.
04:21And it's July 4th, a day that the country is celebrating independence, while we are literally seeing people lose their freedom in real time.
04:31So I'm thankful to those who are watching. I'm thankful to Essence for even creating this space where we can talk.
04:38And I know the panel before broke down what's happening in the White House with this big, ugly bill that's robbing the people and giving to those who are wealthy.
04:49But I also want our panelists to just talk about, as we discuss misinformation and disinformation, what it's looking like in their spaces.
05:00And if y'all have any questions, look, I don't know we're not doing too much Q&A, but I do like amens.
05:05Can I get an amen this morning?
05:07Amen.
05:07Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
05:10So let me ask you this. We're talking about misinformation and disinformation.
05:16Talk about the difference and how it's showing up in your work.
05:19Yes, absolutely. So there's something called the information disorder spectrum, right?
05:27It's really called like the spectrum of lies.
05:30And we've got misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.
05:35Misinformation is just incorrect information, any incorrect information.
05:39So let's say incorrect polling hours, right?
05:43Disinformation requires intent.
05:46It's lies with the intent to lie.
05:49And so if somebody's actively pushing incorrect polling hours to communities, they're spreading disinformation.
05:56And then the third is malinformation.
05:59Now, malinformation is information that's either true or has a kernel of truth in it, right?
06:05And it's being used to manipulate and harm communities.
06:08That can be things like hacked materials.
06:11That can be things like putting your personal information online.
06:15Or, as we see right now, taking a kernel of truth and twisting it and pushing it towards communities to make them believe that certain things are happening that are not.
06:29And so all of them are just basically, you can just call them all lies.
06:33I was about to say, it sound like lies.
06:34I had never heard of malinformation, but it sounded like spin.
06:37Got a little bit of kernel of truth.
06:40But it's still a lie at the end of the day.
06:42Catherine, let me ask you, you've built an entire digital, you're building an entire digital museum around preserving the stories of Afro-descended people globally.
06:53What role does historical erasure play on misinformation?
06:58And how can we begin to re-educate people?
07:02I mean, our history is how we understand ourselves.
07:06It shapes our understanding of who we are, what legacies have come before us.
07:13And in all of that, I think one of the biggest things when it comes to our historical erasure, it disconnects us from our sense of identity.
07:24When we lose that, we lose an essential part of who we are.
07:28And I think the biggest way for us to re-educate ourselves and how we begin to re-educate ourselves is, one, by having humility.
07:35It's recognizing that we do not know everything, but we are capable of learning everything.
07:39And it's really powerful because once we're able to do that, we allow ourselves to have room to do what we need to do in figuring out the next steps.
07:53Azadeh, let me bring you into the conversation because you've competed on global stages where media narratives don't often tell the full story, especially for black women, for different cultures.
08:07How have you experienced that misinformation or disinformation?
08:10I'm just calling it lies.
08:12Lies.
08:12Lies.
08:13The lies people tell in the world of sports and in the world of media.
08:18How are you flipping that script also?
08:21For example, I'm flipping the script just by showing up myself authentically every day, unapologizing myself, being myself of who I've always been my whole entire life.
08:30Being in a male-dominated sport, especially like basketball, oftentimes when you fight for certain rights or when you fight for better treatment or even better pay, you get this black woman or this angry black woman narrative.
08:43And it's all about just trying to reshape that.
08:46You know, it's okay to stand up for yourself.
08:48It's okay for you to fight for better pay, better wages, or just better conditions in your work setting.
08:53So I think for me it's just about showing up through my nonprofit, showing young girls how to tell their stories, tell it the truthful way, using my platform to kind of – it's my responsibility to use my platform in a way where I can give the correct information to young girls, to the youth, to whoever's listening.
09:09And I think I'm doing a great job at that now, flipping the narrative.
09:12But it's important for us to just show up as ourselves and not allow these narratives to kind of tear us down.
09:17And sometimes that's kind of hard, showing up.
09:21And I know there may be some people here, you go in and out to your job, and you feel like your voice is being silenced, even when you're hearing disinformation.
09:30And so many times we've taken it, we've leaned into it.
09:34But talk about some of your work with Onyx Impact that's rooted in data and narrative strategy.
09:41How does that – how are you answering that, that issue that we're having sometimes, and being able to combat that disinformation and misinformation?
09:49So Onyx Impact, we're a research and digital innovation lab that is fundamentally focused on fighting disinformation and using AI and tech to help build brighter black communities online.
10:04And I think what's so important here is to realize that, one, disinformation works on everybody.
10:11It works on everybody in this room, everybody in this crowd.
10:14Why?
10:14Because our brains work in a similar way.
10:17And that is that the more times you hear something, the more likely you are to believe it's true, and the more likely you are to believe other people believe it's true as well.
10:24Our brains substitute repetition for truth.
10:27And in a moment that we are in of hyperamplification, when social media can put the same image or message in front of you over and over and over and over again, it's never been easier to convince people of things that are not true.
10:44So Onyx Impact, we've got amazing digital tools, the Digital Green Book.
10:49If y'all take out your phones right now and go to digitalgreenbook.org, you will find tools, tips, resources for how to spot disinformation, how to fight back, where to go.
10:59And you'll find an AI tool named Ayesha that can answer all types of questions.
11:05What is going on with this federal bill?
11:07How is it going to impact black people?
11:09What is AI?
11:10How do I use it?
11:11How do I find investment opportunities in my community for black people?
11:14Whatever you got, Ayesha is built on black news.
11:17She's built by us.
11:18She's built for us.
11:19And she's here trying to fight this exact issue that you're talking about today.
11:22Can we give it up for Ayesha?
11:24Ooh, yeah, Ayesha.
11:25Can we give it up for a Digital Green Book?
11:27I love it.
11:28But let me just poll the audience really quickly.
11:30How many of you are on social media, Instagram, TikTok?
11:35How many of you are?
11:36Leave your hand up.
11:37Out of those who have lifted their hands, how many have shared something that you thought was true, later discovered that it wasn't, but you shared it?
11:47I'm going to leave mine up.
11:48Yeah, me too.
11:50How many have then gone back to take it down?
11:53You just leave it.
11:54Okay.
11:55Sometimes.
11:56Y'all go back and take it down.
11:57Y'all go back and take it down.
11:58But we're talking about how quickly lives travel.
12:02I'll give an example.
12:03I just saw something on Instagram.
12:05It was a preacher cussing.
12:06And I was like, ooh.
12:08And then I looked in the comments.
12:10And then everyone that was like, that's AI.
12:12When I tell you that thing looks so real, I was sharing it with everybody.
12:15But that's how quickly information travels.
12:19And we treat it like it is truth.
12:22Catherine, let me ask you.
12:23We're seeing AI-generated images now rewriting history.
12:28We can even look politically at what happened with the gentleman of Rego Garcia, who they had sent away.
12:35And then I was in the briefing room when they said that he had MS-13 tatted on his hands.
12:41But that was Photoshopped.
12:43That's coming from the highest levels of government, right?
12:46So can you talk to us about AI images rewriting history?
12:51I think the biggest thing about AI is recognizing that AI isn't a human, right?
12:58AI can't create a soul.
13:00And so we can utilize AI as a tool and a helpful tool in a beautiful way.
13:06But it can't take away what we as humans have, that soul that we have and what we bring to the table and the history that we have for that.
13:13So, again, like I think AI is one of those things that I love to use personally.
13:19How many use it?
13:19I'd love to use Aisha.
13:21You use it.
13:21I want the hand.
13:22A hundred percent.
13:24But remembering that, like, in using AI, AI can't work without you.
13:28It can't work without what you bring to the table.
13:30So making sure you're bringing yourself to that.
13:32Absolutely.
13:33And there's a danger, although in not confronting how it erases, is erasing things in very real time, right?
13:42So we have to be careful.
13:43This is just a warning to people.
13:45When you're looking at things, don't be so quick.
13:47Don't be so quick to share.
13:50Because it feeds the algorithm.
13:52It feeds the beast.
13:53And just on that point, one of the things we try to tell folks, when you're online, if there is any type of post that elicits a strong negative emotional reaction, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, pause and double check that it's true.
14:10Always.
14:10Yeah.
14:11All right, y'all.
14:12We pausing for a second before we start sharing, okay?
14:16Or read the comments, too.
14:18I'm a comment person.
14:19Everybody go to the comments.
14:21I love the comments.
14:22I live for the comments.
14:23But, Azanine, let's talk about your nonprofit a little bit more because you're teaching young women in leadership.
14:30Yes.
14:30How are you teaching media literacy to help kind of move, have them make smart moves as regards to algorithms and things like that?
14:39That's a great question.
14:40I love to say that the algorithm is not your friend.
14:44Likes, comments, that doesn't equal truth, right?
14:47You have to do your research.
14:48You have to make sure that information you're putting out there is valuable information.
14:52Not only just to you, but to the people that you're feeding it to as well.
14:55So, young girls, we're just teaching just how to dissect what's real and what's not real.
14:58What you're putting out there, it lasts forever.
15:01One post can be on the internet forever.
15:03Unless you're, like, working with the FBI or whoever where they can just digitally delete everything.
15:08The stuff that you put out there into the media, it's going to last a long time.
15:11So, you have to know how to dissect between what's real and what's not.
15:14And also, too, the information that you want to put out about yourselves.
15:17A lot of the young girls, you know, they're making TikToks and they're making videos and they're making, you know, Instagram, Snapchat, and that's fine.
15:23Be your authentic self.
15:24You know, live your truth.
15:25Have a great time.
15:26But know when to separate what's real and not real.
15:29So, okay, when it comes to the Photoshop or when it comes to the AI or when it comes to just adding certain audios or tones on your video that can shift your algorithm, that's something that you don't want to do.
15:39So, it's just all about making sure the girls are being mindful of what they post on their social media accounts.
15:44Make sure that they're aware of what their algorithm is, where it's reaching to, what audience they're trying to attract.
15:49Because, for example, if you have a young teenager who's 13 years old and she posts a video of her, like, maybe getting ready for school, you don't want that algorithm to show up on an older guy or older person's account.
16:00And then now they're in the likes and comments.
16:03So, it's just about still them being the authentic selves, but just knowing what to post, how to post, and what message that they're trying to send about themselves.
16:11Let me say, on the comment with the young women, there was a study that came out years ago by Dove.
16:16And it asked young women, hundreds of women that they had surveyed, thousands of women, actually, that they had surveyed their view of themselves and where they get that view from.
16:25Over 80% said that they got it from social media.
16:30Wow.
16:30So, when they looked at how beautiful they were, what mattered, how they viewed themselves, it came from social media.
16:37And we live in a generation where most people are like this, oh, I'm surprised there's something not wrong with our thumbs, scrolling all day long.
16:44And so, they're getting more of that, and that could be a bot or something else.
16:49So, the tools, what tools can we utilize?
16:52So, again, if you go to digitalgreenbook.org, there's an entire section on how do we protect our kids, right?
17:00How do we protect black kids in this moment of increasing digital harm?
17:04When they talk about things like content moderation policy, what does that actually mean?
17:09That means that they are allowing more racism and anti-blackness into our kids' social media feeds before we've even talked to them about what race even means, right?
17:20It teaches how do we talk about what does digital fluency look like for kids?
17:24How do we make sure that they know that the algorithms prioritize European-centric beauty standards, right?
17:31That their content might get deprioritized, right?
17:34Again, and this is also why it's so important that we have AI that is built with a perspective of black history, black excellence, black joy, like Aisha.
17:47And it's also important that we are creating healthier online communities.
17:51And so, one of my favorite parts of Aisha is if you just go there and you type your state in, whatever state you're from, she will give you a list of all the black newspapers in your state and the links to how to just subscribe right now to make your online profile healthier, to make your online community healthier.
18:13Ebony, sorry, I just want to piggyback off of the question you answered.
18:16I think also, too, it's not just about critical thinking.
18:20You've got to have a lot of emotional discipline to be scrolling on social media and not kind of get that imposter syndrome like, oh, my God, this person is doing better than me or this person is doing this, this person is doing that.
18:30You've got to have a lot of emotional discipline to be able to keep scrolling and say, I'm not going to feed my attention to that.
18:36I'm going to get my attention to something else.
18:37So, it's not just about knowing like your self-worth, but also just having the emotional discipline to know that person is separate, that their path is different than mine.
18:46Now, my path might be slower, my path might be faster, but you've got to be intentional on not getting imposter syndrome because I've had that oftentimes.
18:54Like, yes, I've played in the Olympics twice.
18:56Yes, I've played on global stages before, but when I see other athletes that have done it before me, I'm like, wow, am I going to get there?
19:03Is the work showing?
19:04So, it's also about me being emotionally sound and emotionally disciplined and knowing my time is going to come and not allowing what I see on social media to influence that or influence my work ethic.
19:13No, no, that's good stuff.
19:16I think all of us here, young, it doesn't matter where you are in life, it is very easy to get caught up in what looks real, right?
19:25What looks real and you can begin to compare yourself and put yourself someplace.
19:29And I'm just saying this, that God ain't told you to go.
19:32That's really not a part of your journey.
19:34But because you see it so much, it has a mental health impact on you.
19:39That's right.
19:39It really does, not to mention that on our black and brown community.
19:44So, when the president comes out and says they're eating their cats and dogs and people play that clip over and over, and then you see people purposefully create and curate content that negatively impacts communities, now people are scared in their own neighborhoods because other people feed off of that and then come attack them.
20:05It has real life and real world consequences, right?
20:08So, Catherine, for you, how do you see black communities fighting back and reclaiming our truth?
20:17That's a really good question.
20:19I think one of the things that comes to mind is, I know we were talking about critical thinking, but when I think about it, I think of, one, how we shift our mindsets, right?
20:31I think right now, especially in my generation, we think of accountability as an attack.
20:36We think when people are correcting us on misinformation and disinformation, they're actually criticizing us when they're really trying to make sure that they're spreading truth, right?
20:44And so, one, I think one of the biggest things is, like, take a beat, right?
20:50Take a deep breath and be able to respond and not react.
20:54And then utilize the platforms and resources that are available to us.
20:59I think Aisha is a great perspective of, like, a great point of, like, what exists.
21:04And there's also, like, Looking Glass, which is an AR platform that's developed that talks about black history in Pittsburgh.
21:10There's so many that are out there that if we just do a little bit more time doing that research, we can reclaim our history because we'll know it.
21:18I love it.
21:20And I want to just give to our other panelists how we can use, just some steps, how we can use technology not to be a problem but to also be a solution.
21:33Yeah.
21:34You talked about the digital green book, but what are some other ways that we can use it to be a solution?
21:38One of the things that I think we can use technology and social media to do is to push back against the amplification of lies around our community, around black communities.
21:53And because when we see the virality of lies about black communities, let's take DEI.
22:04What did they do with DEI?
22:06It was a disinformation tactic, right?
22:08They defined DEI as corporate classes that kind of suck.
22:14And as long as they could define DEI as corporate classes that kind of suck, they were able to defund sickle cell research.
22:22They were able to cut funding for HBCUs, take millions and millions of dollars away from black entrepreneurs, right?
22:30They were able to cut all types of Medicaid, health care programs for black people.
22:34Why?
22:36Because every time they said it was DEI funding, our brains were already trained to believe that they were talking about corporate classes that sucked.
22:44So we need to be uplifting using technology, using the amplification that technology can do.
22:52What is actually happening?
22:54What do our truths look like?
22:56Because if we don't reclaim our truths, other people are going to tell it for us.
23:01I think the sad part of that is, and you can jump in, is that especially on the issue of DEI, that some people were okay because they thought it just meant black.
23:12Right.
23:13They was okay with it.
23:15Now realizing they're coming for you too.
23:17They're coming for all America.
23:18They're coming for farmers.
23:19They're coming for veterans.
23:20They're coming for Asians.
23:21They're coming for everybody except for white land-owning men.
23:25And so now people who lean one way and thought that that vote was going to be helping them, you ended up not just destroying one community, but destroying your own backyard.
23:39Yeah.
23:40And that's why it's so important that we begin to tackle issues of misinformation and disinformation, but also to consider, like you said, the source.
23:48That's right.
23:49On the website, you said that there's a source that talks about black-owned news sources.
23:56That's right.
23:56How many here in this audience, that when you get up, I know you all may look at mainstream TV, but you actually inhabit of consuming black news?
24:07I love it.
24:08Let's double down on that.
24:10I love it.
24:10And not just sharing that, but letting other people know, those who are in your own backyard.
24:15That's right.
24:15In your field, especially dealing in sports, give us some mistruths that we have, some lies, the lies that people tell.
24:28We really want to know that, that you hear, that you want to come against some misinformation and disinformation.
24:33Yeah.
24:33Especially with sports, right?
24:35A lot of times you see headlines about a player getting traded or this player's injured or this player getting a specific salary or this player going to this team, right?
24:44And you don't really, you think all that is true until the player actually comes out and say, okay, this is true.
24:50I'm going to this team.
24:51I'm going to that team.
24:52So, for me, I think it's about believing the actual source.
24:55If it doesn't come from the mouth of the actual person who is being reported on, do you have to take everything that's said with a grain of salt?
25:02I mean, it's been quite a few times where I played in maybe another country and maybe there's been a headline about me being injured or there's been a headline about me not being professional overseas.
25:14And then sometimes I have to set the record straight and say, no, this is what it is.
25:19This is how it is.
25:20And that happens.
25:20You know, you go to other countries and people don't really know how it works or what's your system in America.
25:25So, they think that they can put out maybe like a certain headline or maybe like a certain agenda.
25:30But it's up to you to, like I said, stand to your truth and kind of put that misinformation to bed and really tell it like it is.
25:37And it happens a lot in sports, especially in the male world, especially in the women's basketball.
25:42I'm pretty sure.
25:42Who here watched women's basketball at WNBA, right?
25:45And you guys see the narratives with the Caitlin Clarks and the Angel Reeses.
25:49There's so many different narratives.
25:50And my thing is, if it's not coming from Angel Reeses herself or Caitlin Clark herself, then I ain't trying to hear it.
25:56That's just what it is.
25:57Say that one more time.
25:58Yeah, exactly.
25:59And I think, and I'm sorry to be so long with Ebony, but I wanted to piggyback off the information of, not information, the concept on technology, right?
26:07I say, if you can't beat them, join them.
26:09We have to take back our narrative and start pushing positive information out there, right?
26:15Let's start following pages that's telling the truth.
26:17Let's start following black pages that give you accurate black information on our black people.
26:21Let's start following pages.
26:23Let's start sharing pages.
26:24Let's start posting the information that we need so that our people around us and our community are getting the correct information.
26:30I love that.
26:32And I think that's important because how many can feel the fatigue sometimes?
26:36They're trying to figure out whether something is truth and a lie.
26:39Like, it is tiring sometimes.
26:41If there's a fatigue behind that, and I think to combat that is to let's go against that.
26:47And set a new algorithm.
26:49Let's make sure that we are putting forth things that are positive, those things that are lovely, those things that are good, to strengthen our communities.
26:58Because it is leading to poor mental health in many communities.
27:01It is driving many people to have a lot of issues mentally because of what we see online.
27:07Talk about what you're doing, what people can expect with this digital museum.
27:11We just have, like, about two minutes left.
27:13But I'm so excited about the work that you're doing.
27:15Just talk about that very quickly.
27:17Yeah, so the whole point of the museum is to connect the African diaspora.
27:22Growing up, my family was from Uganda.
27:24And I didn't hear about anything about East Africa or Africa in my college classes or really in my high school, middle school.
27:31And so I was like, hey, as I'm learning about history, as I'm traveling to these places, I really feel like it would be impactful for people across the world to be able to have a platform to be able to see this, right?
27:41I was able to live in Brazil for a few years, and I got to see all these different things about the African diaspora that connected that I had no idea about.
27:50And so I was really big on how do we disrupt this narrative that we're so disconnected when, like, in reality, there's a through line between all of this and our history.
28:00And so I really wanted to do a job at promoting it and promoting the right history, right, not having the misinformation.
28:06So going back to the people and asking them questions, going straight to the sources and asking them, hey, what makes sense?
28:13What looks good?
28:14What is the thing that really ties in our history all together?
28:19And so we have just, like, 30 seconds left.
28:21Just a quick wrap.
28:23And Esna, I'm going to start with you.
28:25Just a quick 10 seconds as we leave and talk about this, what you want people to leave knowing.
28:31I want you guys and ladies, guys, ladies, all of you to leave knowing that it's okay to be yourselves.
28:40It's okay to speak your mind, speak your truth.
28:42Just do it in a way where nobody can put this stigma or this narrative on you that you're angry or that you're frustrated.
28:48No, you're speaking your truth.
28:50Do it how you see fit.
28:52Read, read, read.
28:54Do your research.
28:55If you feel like information is not real, don't share it.
28:57If you feel like you're passionate about something, share it.
28:59If you see something positive, share it.
29:01Don't feed into negativity because that negativity will come back to you tenfold.
29:06And Esna, I'll let you have the last word.
29:08Yes.
29:08I would say that right now in this moment, AI is already determining the news we see, who gets hired, who gets healthcare.
29:18Right?
29:18It's determining our very reality.
29:21And if we're not building it, someone else is going to be building it for us or more likely against us.
29:27Right?
29:28And so we need to focus on and uplift black news, black resources, black information.
29:36And we need to go to places like Aisha and the Digital Green Book because, like, creating AI for our community should not be new.
29:45It should not be novel.
29:46It is fundamentally necessary at the end of the day.
29:49I love that.
29:50And I'm just going to piggyback as we end to say, in this space of AI, that we must be not just consumers but developers of it so that we can also control our own narrative.
30:01I also want people to support black-owned news outlets and black-owned businesses as well.
30:09I heard it said earlier that all we got is us, but that ends with all we need is us.
30:16I want to thank everybody for listening in on this panel.
30:19Thank you so much.
31:43You