Safiya Quotes

The word "cannibal," the English variant of the Spanish word canibal, comes from the word caribal, a reference to the native Carib people in the West Indies, who Columbus thought ate human flesh and from whom the word "Caribbean" originated. By virtue of being Caribbean, all "West Indian" people are already, in a purely linguistic sense, born savage. ~ Safiya Sinclair

The notion that Google/ Alphabet has the potential to be a democratizing force is certainly laudable, but the contradictions inherent in its projects must be contextualized in the historical conditions that both create and are created by it. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

The implications of such marginalization are profound. The insights about sexist and racist biases... are important because information organizations, from libraries to schools and universities to governmental agencies, are increasingly reliant on being displaced by a variety of web-based "tools" as if there are no political, social, or economic consequences of doing so. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

I told you, Hell-Bard. Everyone lies. It's in the way we banter with our friends. It's in the mundane greetings we give passersby. It's in the most meaningless things we do every single moment of every single day. Hundreds upon thousands of tiny, inconsequential lies. ~ Susan Dennard

Oh, I know!" Safi clapped her hands, delighted by her own genius. "I shall call you Un-empressed."
"Please," Vaness said coldly, "stop this immediately."
Safi absolutely did not. ~ Susan Dennard

As the Epic Film, Noah, debuts this weekend, those of you who have read Samrajni of Pemako know about the Noah subplot in the novel.
Yes, Safiya, the protagonist is distantly related to Noah... ~ Roy C. Marien

The spectacles of zoos, circuses, and world's fairs and expositions are important sites that predate the Internet by more than a century, but it can be argued and is in fact argued here that these traditions of displaying native bodies extend to the information age and are replicated in a host of problematic ways in the indexing, organization, and classification of information about Black and Brown bodies--especially on the commercial web. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

And do all Hell-Bards waddle like a duck, or is it just you? ~ Susan Dennard

If you wanted to, Safiya, you could bend and shape the world. ~ Susan Dennard

...large technologies such as Google need to be broken up and regulated, because their consolidated power and cultural influence make competition largely impossible. This monopoly in the information sector is a threat to democracy... ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

I do not think it a coincidence that when women and people of color are finally given opportunity to participate in limited spheres of decision making in society, computers are simultaneously celebrated as a more optimal choice for making social decisions. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

Allow me to serve you, Safiya. We have spent too many years apart." "And I have spent too many hours between meals." A glare. "Give it to me now, Polly, or I shall castrate you with a fork. ~ Susan Dennard

...artificial intelligence will become a major human rights issue in the twenty-first century. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

This monopoly of information is a threat to democracy... ~ Safiya Umoja Noble

Google creates advertising algorithms, not information algorithms. ~ Safiya Umoja Noble