Call for Code for Racial Justice during Black History Month
A recap of the projects and the posts
This Black History Month represented a pivotal moment, being the first since the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement last year. On the back of that movement came the Call for Code for Racial Justice and we took the opportunity of this month to share with you the projects that have been publicly released.
The projects cover a broad range of topics from engaging the black community in the voting process, to helping defense lawyers highlight bias in the judicial system. The projects are all released as open source, giving you the opportunity to collaborate and get directly involved in the fight for racial justice. To recap:
Open Sentencing — identifying judicial bias
Members of the black community, once arrested, are more likely to be incarcerated than members of the white community. This solution uses statistical analysis to look for this bias within the judicial system.
Legit-Info — Making legislation understandable
Underserved minorities are often disproportionately impacted by policies related to housing, education, and law enforcement — and these communities are the ones that can have the hardest time understanding this legislation. Legit-Info uses AI to put the information into a single repository and present just the information needed on request.
Incident Accuracy Reporting System — collecting all viewpoints from an incident
We all have bias. This is particularly problematic after a crime occurs in public where there maybe multiple viewpoints. This solution offers a platform to gather various testimonials and look for differences.
Truth Loop — policies in your pocket
Policies, regulations and legislation can often be created in a vacuum. The more the communities they impact can be brought into the process, the better the overall outcome. This solution is a simple mobile app that makes it easy to find policies that may impact you and provide feedback for the legislators.
Five Fifths Voter — opening the aperture to democracy
Even those who want to vote in elections may find it difficult to get involved with the process. From understanding where the local polling station is to knowing if you are even eligible to vote, Five Fifths Voter helps users engage.
Fair Change and TakeTwo
Two new projects were launched on World Day of Social Justice which falls during Black History Month. Fair Change helps record and catalog racially-charged events to help authorities understand when and where these are happening. TakeTwo looks for racial bias in language — whether that is in documentation, websites or articles.
Other articles related to Black History Month this month include the kick-off post and a feature on addressing racism in Silicon Valley.
As Steph Curry points out in this ad, every month is Black History Month. Now is the time to pick up the momentum from February 2021 and turn it into something more permanent. Check out the Call for Code for Racial Justice open source projects to learn more about this initiative.
If you liked the story, be sure to give it a clap and follow Call for Code Digest for more tech-for-good stories!
