Leading the Field: Dr. Fallon Wilson

For our “Leading the Field” Q&A series, we’re speaking with leaders in the civic/gov tech space who are driving important change to make government work by the people, for the people, in the digital age. For Black History Month, we’re lifting up the voices of Black leaders who are working to ensure the government can serve everyone equitably, with dignity and respect.  This week, we spoke with Dr. Fallon Wilson (she/her), the Co-Founder of the #BlackTechFutures Research Institute. At Code for America, we welcome a broad diversity of viewpoints—and we strive to let people speak in their own words about their own unique experiences. With that in mind, the following has received only minor edits for length and clarity, and the views expressed here reflect those of the author.

What motivated you to found the #BlackTechFutures Research Institute? Is it the same thing that keeps you animated about the work now?

I’m a social scientist by training with a master’s in political science and a Ph.D. in social administration. The focus of my thesis—and what I thought my career would be about—was building learning environments where Black and Brown girls and trans girls could achieve. The fact that I ended up in the technology space is so funny to me. It’s the result of a few serendipitous moments. I was asked by an HBCU president to teach a technology class while writing my dissertation, and I needed the money for grad school. It was the height of the Arab Summer, and I was watching as communities were organizing against dictatorial regimes using mobile devices. I saw for the first time how technology could be used for democratic and social outcomes. 

And then I went to my first Code for America Summit back in 2016 and met some amazing folks—but I also saw I was one of only a few Black people there. All this made me realize that there was a new world being built with technology, and the world around Black people was changing without them being involved, and we didn’t have an organization that was looking at the whole ecosystem. 

We had organizations doing venture capital for Black founders and workforce development for computer science skills, but no one was looking at how technologies were changing life in Black neighborhoods. What does it mean for a 70-year-old Black woman with no computer in her home to live in a world with AI? How do you keep her connected? I wanted to found an organization to see the big picture and solve the big problems.

At our core,  we believe that there is no Black tech future without community anchor institutions like HBCUs and faith institutions, even if they’re not strictly technology-oriented. They are key backbone organizations for movement. If you want a movement that includes Black people, you go to Black churches. Even if they’re not literate about AI, they are essential for a movement that brings Black people along with AI. We use our data, research, and index to support those institutions as they do the work in cities across the country for Black people.

What should a Black tech future look like?

I can tell you what it doesn’t look like—it’s not robot dogs designed at MIT to be used for surveillance by police departments. It’s not designing technology that surveils and targets us. What would it look like if we had a world where AI loved Black people? Machines and technology and algorithms are no worse than the people who program them, and we’re very far from being able to say that machines love Black people. That world would look like freedom. It would look fully liberated and supportive of Black joy. That drives me. Until I achieve that, there is no other experience that can change or give me more fulfillment than that right there.

What does it mean for a 70-year-old Black woman with no computer in her home to live in a world with AI? How do you keep her connected? I wanted to found an organization to see the big picture and solve the big problems.

How do we ensure that we aren’t leaving communities behind in the modern digital age?

I love science fiction, so I get excited thinking about the wonderment of a modern, AI world. But I always have to ask: Modern for who? Because it’s not modern for everybody. It’s somewhere around 30% of Black and Brown families who don’t have the internet at home. We have not dealt with really foundational inequalities in our society. 

How do you learn coding, how do you learn to spot a deep fake, how do you learn digital literacy—how do you do all that without a computer in your house? It’s only a modern digital age for those who have privilege. I think about all our industrial inflections—the printing press, radio, television, trains—throughout history, there have been advancements for certain types of people, and there have always been people who didn’t get those because they were enslaved or lacked certain freedoms.

Ideally, I hope that organizations like mine eventually don’t have to exist anymore. For us to get there, we need unrestricted funds—$10 million over five years. That would allow us to dream, to spark a movement. Because I think the only way we level the playing field is through a massive social movement, one that pulls in community institutions and subsidizes knowledge. That’s how we usher in a modern digital age that includes Black and Brown people.

Check out Dr. Fallon on stage at Code for America Summit 2023, leading a discussion on making “internet for all” a reality:

I think the only way we level the playing field is through a massive social movement, one that pulls in community institutions and subsidizes knowledge. That’s how we usher in a modern digital age that includes Black and Brown people.

How do you balance local focus and national impact in your work?

Because of my positionality as a Black person and a woman and all my other social identities, I don’t get to think about only one dimension at a time. I have a Ph.D., but I’m only one generation from poverty. Many family members live paycheck to paycheck. A double consciousness is the norm. Black people are used to having to see big vision and still be hyper-connected to local environments. Yes, we’re a national organization supporting local community anchors. A local strategy is a national strategy. Our work at the #BlackTechFutures Research Institute will always be centered on the people, and the people are always local. 

What does the civic tech ecosystem need more of?

We need more Black women in this space. I want little Black girls to know people like them are building the future—even if they don’t have technical backgrounds. I don’t. I’m a researcher, I don’t code, but what I can do is translate for my community. 

Right now there are only three Black women running state broadband offices—in New Jersey, Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I want to see Black women leading more organizations, not just being workers on the ground. I want Black women to be paid their value. I want civic tech to have a reckoning with the fact that Black and Brown people have been doing this work before they decided to canonize this space. Ida B. Wells was out here collecting data on the lynchings of Black people. And before her, Harriet Tubman got people to freedom because she understood geometry and astrology. Is that not technology in the public interest? Black women have been doing the work of civic tech for ages. I want civic tech to see us. I want the world of civic tech to acknowledge the shoulders they stand on.