 I'm DeRay, a civil rights activist. Two years ago, there were people who thought that there was a problem in Ferguson. They did not yet accept that there was a problem across the country, and we won that battle. The next part of the work is to create a critical mass of people who know what the solutions are and have the skills to implement them. So in five years, I'm hopeful that I'll be in a place as an organizer where we have created that critical mass. But I'm also hopeful that we'll be celebrating some of the accomplishments around criminal justice reform, and we will have figured out how to use technology to build community differently. I think that the movement is a testament to the power of Twitter. In Missouri, most people don't realize that the reason that you didn't see aerial footage in those early days in August and September, October 2014 is because they declared a no-fly zone. So if it were not for Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, Missouri would have convinced you that we didn't exist. And we saw those tools be powerful. Tools help us build a different type of community, and I think that we have to be open to new ways of organizing and new ways of building community. You know, I'm mindful that we aren't born woke. Something wakes us up, and for so many people, what woke them up was a tweet or a Facebook post or an Instagram post or a picture. So I'll never criticize people who people deem to be Twitter activists or hashtag activists, because I know that telling the truth is often a tough act, no matter where you tell that truth and that there is no one way to do this work. There's no one way to be someone who cares about justice or equity. There's no one way to use the tech platforms. I think about us, if we had used Twitter the way that all the articles said that you use Twitter, we wouldn't be here. I think that one of the things that we've learned is that there's no one solution, that body cameras can be implemented effectively as a part of a comprehensive set of solutions, but alone that they are not the win. The White House is actually doing some interesting research over body cameras, around body cameras, about can we use the audio from body cameras to detect aggression in officers before the trauma happens. So right now, we think about body cameras, it is post-trauma. It's like something bad happens. We look at the video, but could we use the audio? I think that's fascinating. I think that we'll see many more things like that start to come to the fore around how we can use technology to hold people accountable. And the other thing is about data. I think that there are some huge questions about how we use data. If I could create one thing in the next five years, it would be like a massive crowdsourced big data project that got volunteers from all across the world to sift through some of these issues. So there are some towns that don't have newspapers. If the police kill somebody in that town, they just aren't in the data set. There are some places in Texas, for instance, where it looks like white people are being disproportionately killed more than people of color. And we think that in those communities, the Latinos are actually being miscoded as white because it's just their names that people are using. Most people don't realize that the homicide rate in cities actually includes the people that the police kill. Some places like Albuquerque, one in three people killed in Albuquerque is actually killed by the police. But if you just look at the homicide rate, you don't know that. Have you heard any number about police violence at all ever? It is all from local media reports. That means that if you get killed by a police officer in America and a newspaper does not write about it, you are not in the data set. That is wild. I worry sometimes that we have forgot how to imagine what is possible. That you think about things like slavery. It took a lot of imagination, right? It took some real mental leaps to be like, these people are just like worth less, these people are worth more, we're going to put them in chains. In concocting the problems, people were really imaginative in the worst ways. When we're in these moments where we're like, okay, the problems are bad and let's figure out how to undo them, people all of a sudden are unimaginative. You say something like, give every kid born in a city in poverty, give them a library and people are like, we could never do that, we could never afford it. That is just so mind blowing to me that people just lost their imagination at scale. You think about how we got here, took real leaps of imagination and commitments in the worst possible ways. My sense of hope is rooted so much in my time as a teacher. I taught sixth grade math in Eastern Europe, Brooklyn and I think every day about fighting for and building a world that is worthy of the kids that I taught and that is real to me. In protest, I met incredible people and I met so many people across the country who did not understand their own power, who did not believe the sound of their own voice and they found it over the last two years and every time I meet another person like that, it reminds me that the people are there. We just have to figure out how to organize and we have to figure out how to activate and mobilize but the people exist, the passion exists and we can do this.
 I'm DeRay, a civil rights activist.
 Two years ago, there were people who thought that there was a problem in Ferguson.
 They did not yet accept that there was a problem across the country, and we won that battle.
 The next part of the work is to create a critical mass of people who know what the solutions
 are and have the skills to implement them.
 So in five years, I'm hopeful that I'll be in a place as an organizer where we have created
 that critical mass.
 But I'm also hopeful that we'll be celebrating some of the accomplishments around criminal
 justice reform, and we will have figured out how to use technology to build community differently.
 I think that the movement is a testament to the power of Twitter.
 In Missouri, most people don't realize that the reason that you didn't see aerial footage
 in those early days in August and September, October 2014 is because they declared a no-fly
 zone.
 So if it were not for Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, Missouri would have convinced
 you that we didn't exist.
 And we saw those tools be powerful.
 Tools help us build a different type of community, and I think that we have to be open to new
 ways of organizing and new ways of building community.
 You know, I'm mindful that we aren't born woke.
 Something wakes us up, and for so many people, what woke them up was a tweet or a Facebook
 post or an Instagram post or a picture.
 So I'll never criticize people who people deem to be Twitter activists or hashtag activists,
 because I know that telling the truth is often a tough act, no matter where you tell that
 truth and that there is no one way to do this work.
 There's no one way to be someone who cares about justice or equity.
 There's no one way to use the tech platforms.
 I think about us, if we had used Twitter the way that all the articles said that you use
 Twitter, we wouldn't be here.
 I think that one of the things that we've learned is that there's no one solution, that
 body cameras can be implemented effectively as a part of a comprehensive set of solutions,
 but alone that they are not the win.
 The White House is actually doing some interesting research over body cameras, around body cameras,
 about can we use the audio from body cameras to detect aggression in officers before the
 trauma happens.
 So right now, we think about body cameras, it is post-trauma.
 It's like something bad happens.
 We look at the video, but could we use the audio?
 I think that's fascinating.
 I think that we'll see many more things like that start to come to the fore around how
 we can use technology to hold people accountable.
 And the other thing is about data.
 I think that there are some huge questions about how we use data.
 If I could create one thing in the next five years, it would be like a massive crowdsourced
 big data project that got volunteers from all across the world to sift through some
 of these issues.
 So there are some towns that don't have newspapers.
 If the police kill somebody in that town, they just aren't in the data set.
 There are some places in Texas, for instance, where it looks like white people are being
 disproportionately killed more than people of color.
 And we think that in those communities, the Latinos are actually being miscoded as white
 because it's just their names that people are using.
 Most people don't realize that the homicide rate in cities actually includes the people
 that the police kill.
 Some places like Albuquerque, one in three people killed in Albuquerque is actually killed
 by the police.
 But if you just look at the homicide rate, you don't know that.
 Have you heard any number about police violence at all ever?
 It is all from local media reports.
 That means that if you get killed by a police officer in America and a newspaper does not
 write about it, you are not in the data set.
 That is wild.
 I worry sometimes that we have forgot how to imagine what is possible.
 That you think about things like slavery.
 It took a lot of imagination, right?
 It took some real mental leaps to be like, these people are just like worth less, these
 people are worth more, we're going to put them in chains.
 In concocting the problems, people were really imaginative in the worst ways.
 When we're in these moments where we're like, okay, the problems are bad and let's figure
 out how to undo them, people all of a sudden are unimaginative.
 You say something like, give every kid born in a city in poverty, give them a library
 and people are like, we could never do that, we could never afford it.
 That is just so mind blowing to me that people just lost their imagination at scale.
 You think about how we got here, took real leaps of imagination and commitments in the
 worst possible ways.
 My sense of hope is rooted so much in my time as a teacher.
 I taught sixth grade math in Eastern Europe, Brooklyn and I think every day about fighting
 for and building a world that is worthy of the kids that I taught and that is real to
 me.
 In protest, I met incredible people and I met so many people across the country who
 did not understand their own power, who did not believe the sound of their own voice and
 they found it over the last two years and every time I meet another person like that,
 it reminds me that the people are there.
 We just have to figure out how to organize and we have to figure out how to activate
 and mobilize but the people exist, the passion exists and we can do this.