Brandi Collins-Dexter researches, writes, and presents on issues pertaining to Black participation in democracy and the US economy, with particular focus on the role technology and information integrity play in improving or deteriorating community health. As former Senior Campaign Director of media, culture and economic justice at Color Of Change, she led a number of successful and highly visible campaigns for corporate and government accountability and has also worked extensively with Silicon Valley companies on key corporate policy changes. Collins-Dexter has testified in front of congress on matters relating to online privacy, racialized surveillance and information integrity, and is a regular commentator in the media on racial justice and tech. Her critically acclaimed book Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future, uses a combination of pop culture analysis, digital ethnography and investigative journalism to understand the history and trajectory of Black political, economic and social power in the United States. As a Schuster Fellow at the Shorenstein Center she will be conducting research on the intersections of media, race, and technology.
Canaries in the Coal Mine: COVID-19 Misinformation and Black Communities
June 24, 2020
Even as Black people are disproportionately dying from the virus due to systemic racism, harmful inaccuracies about COVID-19 are metastasizing in Black online spaces. Using multi-site digital ethnography, Shorenstein Center Fellow Brandi Collins-Dexter tracked and identified the spread of this disinformation, and makes recommendations on how to combat it.
