This line has been replaying in my head since I first heard Moore say it. We out here humanizing robots and dehumanizing trans folks. It reinforces the fact that everyone else, including tech, gets to be human except Black folks — especially Black trans folks, Black unhoused folks, and Black disabled folks. The same industries who collectively promised they were listening and learning in 2020 are now boasting about using AI to “increase diversity.” Specifically, Levi’s announced that they would be using AI-generated models to “create a more inclusive, personal and sustainable shopping experience.” So what they took from the uprisings inspired by Floyd’s murder, and the calls for more equitable workplaces for Black people, was to replace them with AI and sell us images of Blackness that aren’t even real? As these conversations, and the public push for anti-racism, has waned, it’s easy to say that 2020 wasn’t a signal of change. But it’s not that nothing has changed since George Floyd’s murder, it’s that some things are much, much worse. Now, bigots are even more wrong and strong in their hatred. And companies think it’s enough to sprinkle in some performative representation (without even using real Black people!!) without doing any actual work to fix the systemic barriers facing Black employees. Now, it’s typical to be scrolling through your timeline and see people say that Jordan Neely deserved to be choked to death because he made some white people uncomfortable.
