Juneteenth, AI, and the Fight for Social Justice in 2025

Juneteenth makes us think about our freedom, how hard we had to fight for it, and how long it took to get it. It reminds us how systems delay, distort, and deny progress. And now more than ever it’s got us asking about our future: Are we ready for what’s coming? Because the era of AI is already here. And Artificial Intelligence isn’t neutral. It learns from the data we feed it. And that data? It’s the same history that tried to keep us out. So how could it not repeat itself, unless we intervene?

Shift Happens

We used to need a consultant to write a business plan and it would take hours, if not days or weeks to get it. Now you ask a chatbot, and it's done in minutes.

We used to wait on accountants, designers, marketers, whole teams. Now AI can give you the form, the copy, the pitch, all before lunch.

That’s not science fiction anymore. That’s how a lot of entrepreneurs are doing it today.

So the question is: are we still building systems for the world we used to live in? Or are we preparing Black entrepreneurs for the one we’re actually in?

Because the old ways are dying and a lot of folks, even some who built powerful, beautiful systems that helped so many for so long, are holding onto strategies that don’t work like they used to.

Comfort feels safe. But remember Blockbuster? Yeah... That’s what relying on comfort did for them.

BLOC Isn’t Here to Comfort You. We’re Here to Prepare You.

The world is shifting fast. AI is already reshaping business, jobs, money, and visibility. And we’re only in Chapter One.

AI doesn’t think or hate, but it copies what it’s given. And what is being given is a whole lot of bias. Hiring data, media narratives, social posts, policy reports, the patterns are all there.

Now it’s running those same patterns, automatically and at scale.

Even the people building it don’t always know why it does what it does. That’s what makes it dangerous.

Let’s Talk About the Receipts

This isn’t abstract. It’s already happening:

A résumé screening AI trained on “successful” hires learned to filter out names like Jamal and Imani. No slurs, no flags, just no response.
Black speech patterns (AAVE) get flagged by moderation bots as “aggressive” or “unprofessional.” That means your voice might get silenced before anyone even hears it.
Facial recognition systems fail to identify dark-skinned women up to 35% of the time. These systems have been used in everything from security to job applications.
Instagram’s algorithm decides what gets seen. If your content doesn’t align with its internal AI filters, or if your skin tone affects its detection, you may just not show up.
Some users report that ChatGPT changes tone when it senses a Black user, shifting into slang, overcompensating, leaning into stereotypes it was never taught to question.

This is the AI we’re working with. It’s not neutral. It’s trained.

**You’re Not Just Talking to People Anymore: We’re Mingling with Bots**

When you post about your business, launch a product, or apply for a grant, you're not just talking to human eyes. You're talking to bots, automated software that likes, shares, comments, and follows.
**Research shows up to 20% of social media chatter is generated by bots**, posting, commenting, resharing, automated and unfiltered. In other words, **1 in 5 interactions doesn’t come from a person**.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg:

25–68% of X accounts may be bots
On Instagram, estimates say around 10% of accounts are bots
In 2024, Imperva reported over 30% of overall internet traffic was bad-bot traffic

These bots aren’t neutral. They tend to:

Amplify engagement patterns they’re trained on, like liking and echoing popular content.
Suppress voices that don't generate predictable activity, like yours, if the AI doesn’t recognize your tone or identity.
Influence what algorithms interpret as “valuable,” “trusted,” or “recommended.”

That means these bot behaviors shape not just what humans see, but what algorithms serve to humans.

If bots suppress your business, if they don’t engage with your posts, AI systems might decide you’re irrelevant. And then you don’t show up to anyone.

What Happens If We Don’t Intervene?

We’ve been erased before. We’ve been filtered out. Redlined. Profiled. Delayed.

Juneteenth reminds us what happens when systems don’t put us first because no one fought to center us.

This moment is the same.

If we don’t step in now, racism won’t go away. It’ll just become harder to trace, and harder to fight.

We’ll be raising our voices in rooms where the system already muted us.

So What Do We Do?

If you’re a Black entrepreneur:
Learn the tools.
Use the tools.
Test the tools.

Don’t wait to be taught. Start messing with it. Train your own AI. See what it sees. And if it can’t see you, make noise until it does. We’ve already experienced instances of Black entrepreneurs raising awareness about specific issues they’ve encountered, and only because of the backlash and criticism, those systems were improved.

Don’t Wait for the Future: Build It