By Tawana Petty In 1985 my father died of AIDS. I was nine years old and it was nine days after my ninth birthday. Although a devastating loss for me, it would be years before I would learn the truth about why my dad died, what AIDS was, how the United States treated AIDS patients,…
In 2019, the city of Detroit caught the national spotlight with its efforts to resist facial recognition technology (FRT). The implementation of this technology was through an initiative called Project Green Light, a public-private partnership led by the Detroit Police Department. The project seeks to present itself as means of making communities safer. But as…
Kim M Reynolds spoke with Tawana Petty to learn more about the anti-surveillance work going on in Detroit, which is currently one of the national spotlights for resistance against facial recognition technology. Can you briefly introduce yourself and the work you do? My name is Tawana Petty, and I’m also known as Honeycomb.…
By Tawana Petty ODB has created a series of “tip sheets” that provide context and background about privacy issues faced by members of historically marginalized groups. Safety vs. Security: Are You Safe or Are You Secure? is part of this series and will soon be published as part of our forthcoming Digital Defense Playbook: Community…
Powerful. Grounding. Transformative. The Our Data Bodies Project attended the 19th annual Allied Media Conference in Detroit, Michigan, bringing the team’s unique insight and powerful methodologies to a diverse and enthusiastic community of teachers, technologists, activists, organizers, poets and artists. Team members Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Tamika Lewis, Tawana Petty and Mariella Saba held two workshops…