Hackathon Hopes to Keep Money in Black Communities

On May 30, the organization Deep Lab will host a hacking event to figure out how to keep money circulating in Black communities for a longer period of time.

According to the group, “on NYC’s Upper East Side, a dollar circulates for an average of 17 days inside the community. Jog 20 blocks north to Harlem, and spend a dollar there; it only circulates in the community for 6 hours.”

Deep Lab is an organization of cyber-feminists featuring researchers who explore privacy, security, surveillance, anonymity and large-scale data aggregation within the arts, culture and society.

The event will feature digital security trainer for Freedom of the Press Foundation and Deep Lab Harlo Holmes, Calena Jamieson, Mutale Nkonde and Sacha Thompson.

“Online retail gives a chance to keep more money in the hands of the Black community,” Holmes said.

“Once this money starts circulating, we can use it to stimulate employment, build institutions and increase the tax base of traditionally underserved communities,” Holmes explains in an interview with Mutale Nkonde for The Brooklyn Reader.

The goal of the event is to create solutions for poverty, inform attendees about managing finances and creating wealth and finally creating a sense of autonomy and power in the vain of Black Wall Street in the early 1920s.

The event is currently sold out, but there is a strong chance that the event could return. For more information, check out Deep Lab.