1.2 The Use of Technology and Data in Identifying Public Issues

LO 1.2: Examine how technology is used to illustrate public issues.

People have long used technology such as cameras and printing presses to show that something is a public issue. For example, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a journalist and sociologist. In the late 1800s, she believed that lynchings were a public issue based on her firsthand experiences. However, she needed proof to convince others that lynchings were not just personal troubles. In typical lynchings, mobs of White people killed one or more Black people for alleged wrongdoings. These wrongdoings ranged from talking back to a White person to allegations of sexual assault. The government rarely intervened or punished the people doing the lynching.

Wells-Barnett compiled statistics on lynchings in the United States. She published the statistics in two pamphlets, Southern Horrors (1892) and The Red Record (1895). Wells-Barnett used technology and the media to share statistical data on lynchings. These publications changed public opinion. Her data proved that lynchings occurred more often than thought (Mobley, 2021). As a result, the federal government investigated lynchings and they declined (University of Chicago Library, 2019). Still, it was not until 2022 that the United States passed anti-lynching legislation, the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act.

Photo 1.5

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a Sociologist, Journalist, and Activist against Lynching

In 2020, a store clerk in Minneapolis suspected George Floyd, a Black customer, of using a counterfeit $20 bill and called the police (The New York Times, 2022). It is unknown whether Floyd used counterfeit money. He was sitting in a vehicle in front of the business when the police arrived. Within minutes, the situation escalated. A White officer, Derek Chauvin, placed his knee on Floyd’s neck. He kept it there for nine minutes and 30 seconds, killing him. Darnella Frazier, 17 at the time, recorded the deadly interaction. She uploaded the cellphone video to Facebook (Bogel-Burroughs & Fazio, 2021). The video was strong evidence that the police overreacted to the situation. Floyd’s death spurred global protests against police brutality.

Photo 1.6

People Protested Against Police Brutality Around the World After the Death of George Floyd

Statistics and video-recording make it harder to ignore police brutality (or lynchings in the past) as public issues. The Washington Post also tracks fatal shootings by police officers in the United States (Jenkins et al., 2022). Since 2015, there were 10,429 fatal police shootings. Their data show that police kill Black and Hispanic people at higher rates than White people (see Figure 1.1) (The Washington Post, 2025). Camera technology in cell phones, doorbells, and worn by police give proof that people can see. Statistical data published by newspapers delivers additional evidence. Combined, this evidence suggests that police brutality directed toward Black people is a public issue.