Research Justice on the Move: Growing the Community

In June 2012, DataCenter attended the nationwide, annual Allied Media Conference (AMC) in Detroit to convene the first-ever Research Justice track. With Applied Research Center (ARC) and Data Driven Detroit (DDD), DataCenter co-led panels and workshops for skill-sharing, networking, and collaborative envisioning of Research Justice as a community liberation agenda.

Saba rocks it in front of youth at AMC — DataCenter’s Research Director, Saba Waheed (right), leads a discussion on Research Justice at AMC for youth activists from around the country.

We engaged more than thirty participants—including youth, community researchers, scholars, and organizers from around the country. They affirmed the critical importance of research to empower grassroots voices, and walked away with solutions, resources, and a growing network.

Now is the moment to elevate Research Justice in the social justice movement. More communities need powerful, culturally appropriate, and empowering tools to amplify their voices to build political power. Community members must be recognized as experts in their own right!