Written statement of Clarence Okoh Senior Policy Counsel & Just Tech Fellow Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Pennsylvania Advisory Committee Public briefings on civil rights and the rising use of artificial intelligence in education
By Clarence Okoh
Testimony about his extensive experience in combating the use of emerging technologies to undermine the civil and human rights of youth and young adults of color. He highlighted his involvement in initiatives such as the PASCO Coalition: People Against the Surveillance of Children and Overpolicing, which successfully challenged predictive policing programs in schools, resulting in policy changes and federal investigations. Okoh also co-founded the NOTICE Coalition: No Tech Criminalization in Education, advocating to end the use of data and technology for surveillance and criminalization in education. He emphasized the importance of translating the radical imaginations of youth of color into legal and policy solutions.
In his testimony, Okoh focused on the alarming rise of AI-enabled police surveillance technologies in public schools, urging policymakers to implement bans and comprehensive data privacy protections to safeguard the rights of marginalized youth.