Last week we received a bit of annoying news on Twitter: Google (or rather their algorithm) stereotypes The Bronx.
When you do an image search on Google for The Bronx, along with the images you’re served six categories: Ghetto, Streets, Maps, Projects Gangs, 1970s.
The digital diss was found by Jer Thorp, an artist and writer in Brooklyn, who posted it to his twitter account.
Clearly it’s not Google intentionally serving this since the giant search engine is run by algorithms but it serves as a reminder of what people still think about The Bronx.
Despite all the efforts of the thousands of residents who helped our borough during the roughest years when we were burning and after the fires were but memories, people still think we’re this forbidden, crime-ridden land.
Fact of the matter is that there is so much beauty to be found within our streets, “ghettos” , and projects.
There’s no denying that we still have many societal ills to overcome but The Bronx is more complex, more diverse than merely six categories can ever try to define us.
We are one of the most diverse counties in the country (actually according to the US Census, we’re the most diverse), we are the greenest borough of NYC, we are the birthplace of hip hop, salsa, and other music genres.
There’s a lot to be proud of even our so-called ghettos.
