Lemonnader.

About two years ago, my husband and I went to have a socially distanced dinner with another couple.

Actually, it was just drinks because this was when there was still so much uncertainty with COVID.

We followed all the rules and we met friends at a distance.

Well, it was great to just have a human interaction again.

An even greater moment happened as we were leaving.

The wife handed me a book that she said she thought I might find interesting. I thanked her, I put it in my purse, only really having a chance to skim through it once I arrived back home. And when I did, I was actually

shocked. Did you know this? I kept nudging my husband as we were sitting there in bed. And what I was referring to was what I was

learning in this incredible book, the title of which, by the way, is Algorithms of Oppression

by Internet Studies Scholar Safia Noble. And in the book, of digital age shaped our perception of each other, especially of women, and specifically of women

of color.

Her findings in this book had my jaw on the floor. She established that when you

type in a question on the Google search engine, it would as we've all seen before

with autophil, try to guess what your question will be.

Sort of like the modern day technological mad lib.

So to fill in the blank, to be intuitive for you, when she typed typed in why are black women so dot dot dot the

the auto fill from the computer the machine trying to guess your thoughts, maybe shape your thoughts,

completed her search with these options.

Why are black women so loud?

Why are black women so mean? And why are black women so angry? Those were the seeds being planted.

This idea that a black woman must be angry, an angry black woman.

When we all know that sometimes things make you feel angry or sad or hurt or upset, and's not a gender or racially specific feeling.

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