As I write this, I’m puzzled. I need to write about it, but what are people saying? I won’t ever understand what this is like, because I have white privilege. I’ll never understand the enormity of it, I’ll never have the ability to truly empathize. But hopefully, the undeniable fact that I know I can not be empathic will at least let me understand a fraction of what families, people, and communities undergo when a crisis like this happens.
This is not just happening in the south or the Midwest or Florida. It happens everywhere. There were police shootings of five unarmed black men in August alone. Five. Violation of not only citizens’ rights, but human rights, by our law enforcement is a national epidemic.
I’ve been thinking about ways to develop a citizen rights resource for a year. With the help of a friend and support from SOCIAL, I finally did it.
It is with a heavy heart that I say that there’s nothing I can do to help advance justice in a case like the one against the killer of Michael Brown. I’m not saying at all that knowing his rights as a citizen will also help him. Black people’s rights are largely ignored, which is something I had in mind while developing this plan, and hopefully coming up with something that will help.
I created a Kick starter project for a citizen rights app. The way this app differentiates itself from the others out there’s that one of my main goals for this app is to create a resource for people to find out their rights in urgent situations. It will even be translated into at least 5 different languages; it will have a version for undocumented workers, and one for foreigners unfamiliar with the American legal system.
Most importantly, it will have an embedded recording device, in addition to a shortcut that activates it if, say, your phone is in your pocket. In all 50 states, you are allowed to record an interaction if you believe there’s a possibility that your rights will be infringed. Imagine if we had all the footage of interactions with the Oakland Police Department (OPD), one of if not the most corrupt and most influential police departments in the developed world. Imagine if we had a stop-and-frisk recording of interactions with the NYPD.
I was in Oakland when Oscar Grant was killed by BART police. This is the story told in the film Fruitvale Station. I remember the riots, and that I remember hearing someone complain about the riots, saying they achieved nothing. I also remember telling the guy that honestly, irrespective of whether it is true, he cannot judge what people do when these imported injustices occur. I remember seeing my city, my community, my entire region being torn apart by it.
I did not have the ability to do it at that time. Now, I haven’t any choice but to do it because something has to be done.
If you want to check my kick starter you can find it here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1681749416/know-your-rights
There is much more information there. And please, as at all times, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or
want to talk!
