The next wave of BLM and LGBTQIA+ protests could be in the hands of an App - Equity.
30 July 2019: the world did not come to its fiery end. I was watching Good Trouble. Mariana was creating an app for her job that was a one-stop shop for activists to plan and coordinate their work. And I thought, ‘that is SUCH a good idea, why hasn’t that been made yet?!’
2 April 2020: our fiery demise arrived. Although I had been busy with school, home, and quarantine, I was aching for a project. Around 10 p.m., with a spur of inspiration, I decided that I too could make an app to allow people to plan protests. I stayed up until 6 a.m. researching ideas and writing notes. Before anything else, I am someone who creates. My fellow creatives know that the first 24 hours of any idea are the most exhilarating and tangible.
“ My fellow creatives know that the first 24 hours of any idea are the most exhilarating and tangible.”
Throughout the following week, I tried so many different routes to make an app that I would feel comfortable putting my name on. I decided on a name and logo, but there was no way I could make a social app worthy of such an important cause without developer knowledge. The details became overbearing. My fellow creatives also know that this is the worst part of a project. After a while, the idea faded.
During the second week of May, I was telling my aunt about the utility of Wix as a website builder for her business. It was a great platform with lots of options. In fact, I realized I could build a social mechanism through it. Right after the phone call, I researched programs to turn a website into an app. And we were back in the game.
Now, as I write this in July, I have built an app called Equity, to be able to plan protests both locally and nationally. I couldn’t be more excited (and terrified), because this app is needed. We have entered the largest civil rights movement in history, and demands are being met with inaction. I hope that by the time you read this, Breonna Taylor’s murderers will be jailed, but there is no guarantee of that. My highest hope is that we can keep up the pressure in the U.S., and maybe this app will help.
“ I have built an app called Equity, to be able to plan protests both locally and nationally.”
But there is also a less obvious need for this app. The systems in which we are fighting (rife with gender discrimination, white supremacy, state-sanctioned violence, etc.) are systems that have been built and mastered over a long period of time. A system is something that can function with resistance and is repeatable over time. This is why we are seeing the same debilitating, hugely violent systems reign, even after we make our cries known over and over. And because the communities that are fighting are the ones directly affected by the systems, they must move on to daily survival. Sadly, without organized resistance, the pattern will continue to repeat itself.
“ Sadly, without organized resistance, the pattern will continue to repeat itself.”
And I am so ready to unite. We have power as a society when we band together. I have realized that one has a responsibility as a person of society, to use the power that you do have and fight for your community. Although this is a responsibility that one did not ask for, the power given in that responsibility is awesome. We get to witness it every time we see a protest or public demonstration. This app is not a hierarchical power that shadows over another, but a unifying power, as you know someone will be right there next to you, fighting alongside you. As an ally, I can’t wait to fight alongside my LGBTQIA+ community and the BLM movement, for as long as I am needed.
Article written by Tyne Dickson