COVID-19 laid bare the profound role of systemic racism in the economic and health disparities that shape the lives of African Americans. Whether it was mass unemployment, precarious “essential work,” high death rates, or soaring symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders the pandemic accelerates the crisis state of Black America. In this talk, Dr. S. Craig Watkins draws from his current research on young adults, technology, and COVID-19 to explore how platforms like smartphones and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to address some of the health and economic disparities that reproduce racial inequality. Watkins argues that young African Americans are not only technology consumers but technology innovators. As a result, their creative uses of technology open up new ways to think about the future of Black civic engagement, health, and opportunity in our post-pandemic world.
