the readout: March 13th

Sometimes there is so much going on that I need to give y'all a lil bit of everything. So this is the readout – a snapshot of what Kairos is up to, tech news, and some other things I found on the internet. Let’s get into it. 

User Error: LGBTQ+

Today Kairos released the fourth report in our User Error series. This one was written by yours truly and takes a look at how internet issues affect LGBTQ+ people online and offline. You can read it linked below, but I will leave you with one of the most interesting things I found in my research for this report: GeoCities was created by a gay man named David Bohnett (pictured below).

Yes, GeoCities, that late 90s/early 2000s platform that gave everyone a little slice of the internet to create probably the most unhinged websites we’ve ever seen. GeoCities was the precursor to MySpace and Facebook. Although it is long gone, GeoCities created what we know of as the internet today — Web 2.0 — where user generated content runs the web.  

Ok back to the LGBTQ+ of it all. When asked about why he created GeoCities, Bohnett responded, “I think a lot of that comes from my own experiences as a gay man and coming out and meeting other lesbian and gay people and understanding the power of meeting others of your own identity.”

The fact that Bohnett was a gay man, modeling and creating a digital space from the experiences he had of belonging in queer community, is not a side fact that should be overlooked. His queerness has everything to do with creating a platform that cemented the internet as a place where people can gather and create with others. 

Click here to learn more and check out the full User Error: LGBTQ+ report.

Kairos State Fellowship

Have you ever been in a Zoom room where the chat was active, people proactively participated, and there wasn’t that awkward pause when facilitators asked a question? That was the vibe last week during the first Fellowship session. The 100+ Fellows in the room really made the kick off of this program incredible. I was inspired by them and even changed my approach to the type of storytelling I want to do around the Fellowship because of their participation. In a survey to Fellows about which regions they are coming from, it was clear that regional affiliation was a huge unifier. The South represented big with 55% of the fellows (the South got something to say!) and inspired me to think about the story of the Fellowship through a regional lens: How is organizing the same or different across the country? What can we all learn from the different regions of organizers working to build power?

I also want to shout out Laurel Wales from People’s Action who talked our Fellows through what relational organizing really means and how to make an assessment of your network. And a very big thank you to organizers from Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) for taking their time to share how they made wins in their #TreatmentNotTrauma campaign. These types of stories – about learnings and successes – are so vital to the future of our movement and keeping the tradition of good, relentless, community focused and strategic organizing alive.

I can’t even explain to you how excited I am for the rest of the Fellowship. You’ll hear more over the next 6 months through this newsletter. And if you know anyone who might be interested in our Fellowship, send them the link to subscribe to this newsletter and they’ll get more information.

In tech & organizing news

Organizers campaigning to get Shotspotter, faulty police tech, taken out of cities around the country have won in Chicago,IL and Durham, NC.

Shotspotter is paid for by taxpayers and is allegedly supposed to alert cops to gunfire but has only led to more violence. Chicago’s city officials spent $36 million dollars on ShotSpotter since initiating the contract in 2018. A 2021 study found that 89% of police dispatches in response to ShotSpotter alerts turned up no gun. One dispatch even resulted in the tragic and inexcusable death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who had his hands up. 

Stories like these always make me think about how wins are hard to come by, but we still keep going. Because if this shows us anything, there is a world where tech can work for all. The Stop ShotSpotter organizers in Chicago and Durham proved that.

A gem from the internet mines