230. Nadine Smith on AI Surveillance, Algorithmic Discrimination, and 20 Years of Color Of Change

Angela Reddock-Wright sits down with Nadine Smith, President and CEO of Color Of Change — the nation's largest online racial justice organization — for a conversation about Florida as the testing ground for Project 2025, the "sand in the gears" resistance strategy that has quietly racked up wins against the current conservative agenda, and what it means to organize Black power in the digital age. Drawing on 20 years of Color Of Change history, Smith breaks down how algorithmic discrimination and AI surveillance are compounding racial inequity in everyday life — from hiring to grocery store pricing to school safety systems — and connects criminal justice reform, voting rights, and tech accountability as expressions of the same political power.  Key Topics Covered:  How Florida became the laboratory for Project 2025 — from anti-woke laws and book censorship to attacks on voting rights and union busting — and why the "sand in the gears" resistance strategy has produced quiet but significant victories that the national narrative is missing How Color Of Change was founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on three core principles: name who is responsible for the harm, show how they profit from it, and build the power to replace those systems How AI and algorithmic discrimination are shaping everyday life in ways most people don't see — from biased hiring screens and surveillance wage suppression to AI school safety systems that falsely flag Black and brown students, and flock cameras used to track private citizens How Color Of Change's criminal justice reform work — from bail elimination to prosecutor accountability to mobilizing around death row cases like Sonny Burton's — is inseparable from the broader fight for Black political power and voting rights How the playbook works — manufacture fear, assign blame, loot while the public is distracted, then silence dissent through censorship and intimidation — and why being suspicious of manufactured hatred and staying connected to community is the most powerful form of resistance 🔗 Connect with Angela:  InstagramFacebookLinkedInVisit Angela's Website