Verizon recently featured Desmond Upton Patton, an associate professor at the Columbia School of Social Work and Data Science Institute member, for his research examining loss, bereavement, and Black digital grief. 

The last thing Gakirah Barnes wrote on social media was “In Da End We DIE.” Four days later, she was killed.

Her last post attracted national attention as the public discovered Gakirah’s social media handle and read through the posts of a young woman who was a gang member and who allegedly shot and killed up to 17 people. Today, nearly seven years after her death, Dr. Desmond Patton, a social worker and associate professor at Columbia University, says he has developed a method to interpret the messages Gakirah left behind.

“Gakirah had so much knowledge about violence and trauma,” Patton says. “She could have used that knowledge to help people.”

Now, Patton is using that research to advocate for a more thoughtful response to discussions about policing social media. Where some might see violence and aggression online, Patton sees a cry for help. With a combination of artificial and human intelligence, and with the input of ex-cons, Harlem pastors and former gang members, he is studying social media posts like Gakirah’s to learn how to respond with therapies, not arrests.

At SAFE Lab, his research is being used to examine loss, bereavement and Black digital grief. It’s also part of a new project asking Harlem natives about how they’re experiencing COVID-19 and resistance to anti-racism.

“So much grief is unfolding on social media,” Patton says. “How do we use Black social workers to gain some skills to identify signals of grief and loss?”

Read More: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/social-worker-uses-ai-stop-gang-violence