The readings this week were insightful and prompted me to make instant connections with what I already know. While reading “Assessing risk, automating racism” by Ruha Benjamin, I couldn’t help but think about how Black women are disproportionately affected when it comes to maternal healthcare, from start to finish, especially in terms of the care and treatment they receive from health officials. The article delved deeper into this issue, particularly in relation to the role of technology in exacerbating these disparities.
In the abstract, the article highlights a study by Obermeyer et al. which examines an algorithm predicting health risk and influencing treatment for millions of people. The study reveals that the tool, designed to predict the cost of care as a proxy for health needs, tends to label Black patients with the same risk score as White patients as much sicker because providers spend significantly less on their care overall. This finding resonated with my prior knowledge and underscored how technology can perpetuate inequalities, even in healthcare.
This isn’t surprising, as it aligns with the information I had encountered previously, especially from Safiya Umoja Noble’s work, as discussed in my own book report. Noble’s research highlighted the alarming levels of bias and discrimination faced by Black people, which is far more pronounced compared to other racial groups. It’s disheartening to realize that this bias extends to technology, but it’s a stark reality.
As Dr. Friend mentioned, technology was predominantly created by White individuals for the benefit of White individuals. This inherent bias raises the question of how technology can avoid being racist when it was initially designed with a narrow focus. In essence, these readings underscore the systemic issues and inequalities deeply embedded in technology and healthcare, which demand attention and reform.
The readings in this class not only further prove the issue of privacy and surveillance and how that is a major concern that is not an open conversations enough, but the readings also provide insightful information on how while yes those are an issue, but racism is also tied in with all of this; giving Black people the short end of the stick again.
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