The Black Equity Index (BEI) Data Report

Reviewed by: Madison Watkins

Review date: February 26, 2025

Site Link: https://beidatareport.com/#beiregions

Archive Link: http://archive.today/VVPpd

Keywords: Contemporary, Political Science, African and African Diaspora Studies, Public Humanities

Data Sources:

• Public infrastructure datasets
  
• Urban planning and zoning records
  
• Transportation and mobility stats
  
• Census and socioeconomic demographic data
  
• Climate and environmental impact reports

Processes:

• Aggregating multi-source datasets to build a dynamic archival overview of racialized inequities in Black communities, specifically in areas like homeownership, educational access, environmental health, and civic participation.
  
• Mapping systemic disparities across over 30 granular indicators including median income, rent burden, asthma hospitalization rates, school funding levels, and voter turnout.
  
• Visualizing trends via bar charts, geographic heat maps, and timeline comparisons to reveal ongoing injustices, such as increased policing in under-resourced neighborhoods or widening education gaps post-COVID-19.
  
• Contextualizing the impact of policy changes and economic shifts (e.g., zoning updates, corporate tax subsidies, or shifts in public funding) on community stability and Black economic mobility.

Presentation:

The Black Equity Index (BEI) is an interactive data visualization platform focused on systemic disparities affecting Black communities in the Southern Californian, Inland Empire region. Divided into thematic indicators—Population, Health, Education, Wealth Gap, Housing, and Civic Participation—the platform allows users to explore data spatially and temporally. The presentation is layered and expansive, making complex information more legible and actionable.
Each section uses clear visual elements like story maps, color-coded heat maps, and dropdown comparisons, allowing for a multifaceted understanding of long-standing inequities. However, first-time users may benefit from an onboarding walkthrough or interactive guide, as the interface can feel overwhelming due to the density of information and lack of narrative scaffolding.

Digital Tools Used:

• Flourish (data visualizations)
  
• ArcGIS (mapping and spatial analysis)
  
• JavaScript (interactivity and navigation)
  
• WordPress (site structure and content management)

Languages:

• English

Review

At first glance, BEI read as a digital archival project: a living, data-rich archive that seeks to preserve the lived experiences of Black communities through numbers and maps. However, after further research and deeper engagement with digital memory frameworks, I’ve come to question that interpretation. Unlike archival or historical DH projects that aim to preserve the past and trace cultural memory, BEI appears more concerned with the present, with policy impact, statistical representation, and structural critique. It documents conditions, but not necessarily the people living through them. This leads me to ask: who does this serve?

BEI is undoubtedly a powerful resource for policymakers, educators, and advocates. It offers an evidence base for pushing back against colorblind narratives of progress. But its distance from narrative storytelling, its prioritization of abstracted data over community voice, raises questions about whether those most affected by these disparities can see themselves in the platform. The potential for community empowerment exists, but it would be strengthened by integrating more qualitative voices, stories, or case studies that bring humanity to the data.

Each indicator section delivers clear insight into structural inequality:

• Population data tracks shifts due to gentrification, revealing forced migration patterns and reduced Black population density in historically Black areas.
  
• Health visualizations highlight the overlap of asthma rates, proximity to industrial zones, and poor access to hospitals, pointing to environmental racism.
  
• Education data underscores unequal school funding and declining graduation rates in Black-majority districts, with limited access to college readiness resources.
  
• Wealth Gap trends reveal a post-COVID stagnation in Black income growth, exacerbated by wage inequality, underemployment, and historic disinvestment.
  
• Housing maps show redlining’s legacy in present-day rent burdens and low homeownership among Black families.
  
• Civic Participation & Justice indicators expose low voter turnout areas, high incarceration rates, and the lack of political representation, underscoring exclusion from democratic processes.

These layers of information are powerful, but their impact is tempered by how the data is mediated, by maps and charts rather than stories or lived perspectives. Including community testimonials or audio-visual stories could bridge this gap.

Though BEI successfully still meets its goal of providing a comprehensive, data-driven resource for understanding and challenging racial inequities. By preserving Black experience through a digital lens, it ensures that the systemic injustices of the past and present are documented, making it harder for institutions to ignore or rewrite these realities.

How are the collaborative aspects reflected in the project and are there elements that work particularly well?

BEI’s "Inland Reach" section and its searchable grantee database show strong collaborative efforts with academic institutions, public agencies, and nonprofits. Its connections with Mapping Black California (MBC) extend BEI’s reach and conceptual framework. MBC contributes geospatial storytelling to BEI’s quantitative focus, suggesting a broader digital ecosystem dedicated to Black geographies.

However, the site's sponsors prompt skepticism. In particular, the inclusion of Amazon as a supporter raises concerns, given the company’s contested labor practices and role in gentrification through logistics hubs in Inland Empire cities. Can a platform funded by entities with their own histories of displacement truly critique the structures that support them? The influence of funders should be made more transparent, especially when the goal is structural critique.

Do you see an opportunity for collaboration that would be helpful to the project?

Further collaboration with grassroots organizations, educators, and policymakers could enhance BEI’s impact. Involving community members in curating or interpreting data sets could shift the power dynamic, allowing BEI to become a space of collective authorship rather than external observation.