‘Three Black Teenagers’ Or ‘Three White Teenagers’: Is Google A Reflection Of Society?

“Three black teenagers” entered a search engine and were given orange jumpsuits. It sounds like the setup for a joke, but it is not a joke, and it is not funny. There just isn’t anything funny about rows of teenaged mugshots.

Kids in orange jumpsuits are the kinds of pictures people see when they enter the phrase “three black teenagers” into the Google image search engine. Kabir Alli, a recent graduate of Clover Hill High School in Virginia was so shocked with the results of his image search results he made a video about the racial bias in society being reflected in internet technology according to 12 News of Arizona.

When “three black teenagers” is entered into the Google image search, and then compared to the results for “three white teenagers,” it leaves a completely different impression. Mug shots for black kids and smiling social situation photos for white kids. A bit more doodling around reveals more racism, with a search for gorillas yielding at least a couple of photos of black people. How bizarre that Google’s internet-reading spiders have learned racism, but who exactly taught them to hate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5JPwh44VRE

Google search engine spiders do not know anything about these hypothetical three black teenagers. They do not have the capacity for emotions like hatred, prejudice, or bias. They are just algorithms, and despite the fact they seem incredibly smart, they only reflect what humanity has programmed them to do. So, has Google programmed their spiders to hate? The Telegraph reports a reply from Google representatives.

“Our image search results are a reflection of content from across the web, including the frequency with which types of images appear and the way they’re described online. This means that sometimes unpleasant portrayals of sensitive subject matter online can affect what image search results appear for a given query. These results don’t reflect Google’s own opinions or beliefs – as a company, we strongly value a diversity of perspectives, ideas, and cultures.”

But just how racially diverse is Google? According to 12 News of Arizona, only two percent of Google employees are black, and three percent Latino. Seven out of ten Google employees are men. Sixty percent are white and 31 percent are Asian. So how much diversity are they actually valuing with their payroll? Still, image results are not consciously programmed by anyone, and users determine how images are labeled, not Google.

The “three black teenagers” Google search, reflects society at large. Many internet users in the world contributes their preferences to Google, through searches and which results get page views. It makes little sense to lay the entire problem at Google’s feet. Yet Safiya Umoja Noble, a UCLA African American studies and information studies professor, says we cannot leave them blameless, either. 12 News of Arizona quotes Noble’s reply.

“If Google is not responsible for its algorithm, who is? … We are talking about fixing the culture in companies and fixing the woefully under-educated workforce in Silicon Valley where people are not trained in ethnic studies and they are not trained in women’s studies. They have no idea what the import of the work is having in the social dimension.”

Still, the three black teenagers wearing orange jumpsuits are not the responsibility of Google. They did not create or label these photos. Their algorithms are blind and non-sentient. They depend on tags and labels provided by certain users, namely news writers, bloggers, web designers and stock image companies. There are millions of websites contributing to their image search, so though Google could reprogram their algorithms to skew the natural results, should they? Do these algorithms not merely portray reality within our society?

The three black teenagers in jumpsuits are a huge concern to Antonio Moore, a young black attorney in Los Angeles who works in the criminal justice system every day, but not because of their appearance on search engine results. For Antonio, these three teenagers are part of his workday reality. He sees them over and over, going through a system that is the real truth behind the Google search engine results. Mr. Moore has made a much more telling video of the situation. He doesn’t blame Google. Google is only reflecting a larger problem, which is the mass incarceration of young black males. Mr. Moore’s video and comments below are highly informative on the subject.

“It [Google image search] is picking up the reality that incarceration happened in this country… It is not a black issue, it’s not even a black male issue. It is a young black male issue… Google changing what comes up in the image search, doesn’t change the fact that African American families have been destroyed by mass incarceration and are being destroyed.”

The three black teenagers in orange jumpsuits could be considered a sort of modern-day archetype, representing a greater reality of poverty, crime, and frustration that overwhelms western society. While the web is truly worldwide, the information westerners see is overwhelmingly from the US, UK, and Europe. Actually, worldwide, whites do not outnumber blacks by much. The world is actually 16 percent white and 15 percent black. The leading race in the world is Asian. A full 55 percent of the world is Asian, according to the chart on Science, Philosophy, Chat Forums.

The three black teenagers are Americans, obviously. Americans seem to feel the internet is all about them, and it largely seems to be, though those in the UK join in as well, as English language contributors. The internet largely reflects the western culture, and especially American culture, but its message is to the entire world. Many people from other countries read and speak English as a second language, and others use Google translator. So is the message sent out to the world by Google about western society the truth, a misconception, or an illusion caused by a mistake in an algorithm.

For every three black teenagers in orange jumpsuits, there are about five whites who are also incarcerated. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons, whites make up 58.8 percent of the prison population.

The overall population of blacks throughout the country is a lot lower than 37 percent. The black population in the United States is only 13.2 percent, according to the US Census. While many states in the south have a black population of about 30 percent according to KFF, states like Maine and Idaho have only a one percent black population.

While there are more whites in prisons and jails than blacks, the number of blacks in prison as a ratio compared to the total number of blacks is far higher than the ratio of overall white population to those in prison. Out of 100,000 white people, only 380 are incarcerated according to Prison Policy. Compare that number to 2,207 black prisoners per 100,000 black people. That is where the shocking difference is clear. So what is making this difference?

If three black teenagers go to prison, and five white guys go too, then why is this happening to them? Poverty is a huge reason people end up in prison. There is a powerful connection between poverty and incarceration. While about one in ten white people are poor and one in four black people are poor, there are almost twice as many poor whites as poor blacks because of the vast difference in population numbers. According to Federal Safety Net, 19.7 million white Americans live in poverty, while 10.8 million blacks live in poverty. So the numbers prove to be pretty close to substantiating that three black teenagers and five white teenagers are poor and a fairly even percentage of those poor kids will end up in jail. It is a poverty situation as well as a racial one. Factors that cause poverty include joblessness, single parenthood, and a low level of education, but it tends to be generational as well.

Three black teenagers and five white teenagers, all poor, get caught doing something they should not, can’t afford a lawyer, and go to prison. It is that simple. A few black celebrities get into trouble, but they hire lawyers and do not usually go to prison. Neither do white wealthy people, at least not generally, though Google image searches do reveal Martha Stewart in her orange jumpsuit. She was the exception, not the rule. Rich politicians and corporate CEOs make decisions that kill perhaps millions of people, through war, pollution, poverty, and withholding medical care, but most of the time no one even questions that.

While three black teenagers and five white guys are wearing orange jumpsuits in prison, there are plenty of bigger crimes going unpunished. The wealthy are not morally superior to poor people, but the incentive to commit a crime is different, and the crimes themselves are different. The main inequity, though, is within the judicial system, and it isn’t always racial as much as economic. Money and power protect the wealthy from prosecution. Money and influence also help middle-class blacks and whites stay out of prison as well, but the poor are simply disenfranchised in the criminal justice system, just as they are in society as a whole.

Three black teenagers and five white guys are no more likely to commit crimes, but they are more likely to shoplift, or rob, while richer people poison the environment, embezzle money and abuse power. The circumstances of their lives determine which crimes they commit, and the likelihood they will be caught. Racial and class profiling are a part of that picture. and the thickness of the criminal’s wallets determines the likelihood they will be punished far more than the extent of damage done by their crimes.

Three black teenagers in orange jumpsuits on a Google image search mean that our society, not Google, needs a new algorithm not based on income or race.

[Image by Alan Poulson Photography/Shutterstock]