Black Lives Matter Hackathon ($1000+ Prize)

https://blacklivesmatter.devpost.com/

Just announced with more prizes coming on the way.

SUMMARY OF PROBLEM

Background of Systemic Injustices in America

Black Lives Matter is a decentralized movement started in 2013 after the killing of unarmed 17 year Trayvon Martin. The BLM movement uses non-violent civil disobedience to protest police brutality. This 7 year movement, along with the culmination of countless deaths, has resulted in a broader discussion of criminal justice reform and racial equality in the world.

This sentiment seen in the protests everyday for the past month is hundreds of years in the making.

• African slaves were first brought to America by the Spanish and Portugese settlers in 1501.
• In 1641, slavery was legalized in the state of Massachussets. Slaves would be shipped from Africa and sold to white slave owners, who forced slaves to work for them.
• In 1865, slavery was officially abolished. However, the last state to abolish slavery, Mississipi, failed to do so until 1995.
• During Reconstruction in the South, local sheriffs became akin to the early slave patrols, enforcing segregation and the disenfranchisement of freed slaves.
• Jim Crow Laws and Black Codes severely limited the rights of Black citizens. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled segregation constitutional.
• Discrimination and segregation were legal until 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
• Despite the Civil Rights Act, Black Americans still face brutality and unequal conditions today.
  • Black Americans suffer a higher rate of fatal police shootings than any other ethnicity at 30 shootings for every one million Black Americans.
  • Black households have 1/10 The median net worth of white households
  • Black Americans are living in poverty at twice the rate of their white counterparts
  • Black Americans constitute a higher percentage of COVID-19 Deaths
  • Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at 5.1 times the rate of their white counterparts

Although we cannot begin to quantify these grievances, we have broken these issues into common topics:

Police Accountability

• Police Corruption
• Discrimination and Profiling
• Stop & Frisk, Unlawful Searches

Criminal Justice (Courts)

• Wrongful Convictions
• Diversifying Judges/Prosecutors
• Drug War
• Fines and Fees
• Bail

Internal Biases

• Assessing Existing Biases
• Eliminating workplace discrimination
• Outlets to unlearn biases

Historic Issues

• Controversial Monuments
• Historic Whitewashing
• Minority Cultural Preservation

Global Impacts

• Africa-Centric Businesses
• Political Change
• Supporting global communities

Police Militarization

• Overfunding of Police
• Police Brutality/Excessive Force
• Police Recruitment Tactics

Racial Inequality

• Supporting Minority Businesses
• Affordable Housing/Gentrification
• Food Security
• Access to Education

Mass Incarceration

• In Prison Education Programs
• Rehabilitative Programs
• Youth Population

Felon Population

• Integration into Workforce
• Ban the Box
• Assistance for released inmates

Policy Reform

• Three Strikes Policy
• Mandatory Minimums
• Help over Punishment

Culture

• Upholding Family
• Dissolving family stereotypes
• Building Generation Wealth
• Mitigating Inner City VIolence

IDEAS AND RESOURCES

Examples of Potential Solutions

Application that

• Allows you to easily look police by badge number and precinct
• Speeds up appeal process
• Automatically files for restoration of rights after certain time inmate is released
• Calculates mandatory minimums
• Maps all the remaining monuments, with pictures and dimensions
• Detects whether application has the “box” (Have you been convicted of a felony)
• An app that calculates diversity scores of institutions based on the make up of key members in power
• An app that calculates the likelihood you will get incarcerated by demographics
• A website that breaks stereotypes by showing personal stories of individuals who defy these stereotypes
• A map of minority owned businesses
• An app that breaks down funding of community programs and lets you look at police budget and repriotize those funds