Knowledge is power, and with that idea in mind, two University of Guelph grads have created a Black Lives Matter app to empower and educate the world.
Launched two weeks ago, the free app provides information on Black history focusing on slavery and segregation, current news on the BLM movement, tributes to Black lives lost, available petitions and an option to see Black-owned businesses in the Greater Toronto Area.
“There’s no other way to get change than through educating people,” said Sunny Nakra who co-created the app with web developer Samuel Boylan. The two men live in Guelph.
“Once you’re able to educate yourself, you can actually go to the next step and sign petitions, you have your resources, but number two, you’re also able to go to Black-owned businesses in the area so you can support those members of the community.”
Nakra said as an ethnically Indian child who grew up in Elmira, he endured a lot of racism growing up. He said if people in the community had been more educated about his culture, he would have a completely different experience.
“If you don’t grow up with something that isn’t normal to you, you’re not going to think twice about it,” said Nakra.
“I did face a lot of racism growing up so it wasn’t my story to tell with everything going on. But I could take the opportunity to give people the platform.”
He said while there may be underlining prejudices within people, initiatives like the BLM app do help, can bring change and are more effective than just ‘attacking’ or ‘cancelling’ people online.
Boyland said the team received extremely positive feedback since the app’s launch. “A lot of people like the user interface. There are a couple of people that are racist, but you know that’s going to happen,” he said.
The app also features a song called Rise Up, which is a BLM themed song by Sarah Jade, a Miami artist based in Guelph.
Nakra helped Jade produce a professional video for the song and released it with his campaign to launch the app.
“It’s a very, very powerful video that helps build emotion and then the call to action. Again, the education factor was with the BLM app itself.
He said creating this app was itself a learning experience.
“This is one of the most powerful experiences I’ve been a part of.”