Why Black Data Matters
Black data is more than numbers—it’s our truth, our legacy, and our power.
The Black Mind collects and elevates data from Black men, Black women, and our communities as a whole—centering lived experience, emotional realities, and systemic disparities too often overlooked in mainstream research. This is about more than representation. It’s about reflection, restoration, and reshaping the systems that impact us every day.
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1. We Can’t Close Gaps We Don’t Measure
The importance: Data drives decisions—funding, policy, healthcare, education, and justice. But Black communities are often underrepresented, misrepresented, or entirely excluded from traditional data sets.
The current gap: National surveys frequently lack culturally relevant frameworks, resulting in the underreporting of our mental health, emotional needs, and systemic challenges. For instance, only 9% of the STEM workforce is Black—yet most workforce data doesn’t capture the barriers that get us there.
What we’re closing: The Black Mind asks the questions others overlook—like how racism, gender roles, and identity impact wellness, success, and connection—creating data that empowers us, not defines us. -
2. One Size Doesn’t Fit Our Story
The importance: Grouping all Black people into one monolithic data point erases the nuances between gendered, generational, and emotional experiences.
The current gap: There’s a lack of intersectional data—Black women are 3x more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes, and 1 in 3 report negative health experiences that affect outcomes. At the same time, only 1 in 3 Black men feel understood, yet rarely do studies reflect the emotional and social realities behind that.
What we’re closing: We collect Black men’s data, Black women’s data, and Black community data, independently and together, to reveal what makes us unique, where we align, and where support must be tailored. -
3. Our Stories Deserve to inform Systems Meant to Serve Us
The importance: Decisions are being made without us, about us. If our data isn’t there, neither is our reality.
The current gap: Black communities are often the subject of extractive research—collected from, not created with. Meanwhile, Black households hold just $15 for every $100 of White household wealth, according to Brookings. Without lived-experience-driven data, these outcomes are misread as personal failure instead of systemic exclusion.
What we’re closing: The Black Mind transforms storytelling into strategy. We’re building datasets that inform healing, not harm—and that return power to the people providing the truth.