Here is my idea for an app. If I had clue one how to
actually make it, it would be done by now.
Call it, for now, Safe With Me. It’s like a cross of Uber,
Grindr, that meme about asking for “Angela” in a bar, and that guy who walks
with people.
How it works: If you are feeling unsafe, anxious to walk to
your bus, being harassed in a crowd you can’t leave, need to go into a bathroom
in North Carolina, being bothered by creepy guys and so on, pull up the app.
Put out a call for help – it will maybe have options to signal what your
particular instance calls for (ie, I’m a transwoman who wants an escort to the
ladies’ room, I’m a Muslim guy waiting for the bus). The app will show you the
nearest Safe Neighbors (or whatever they’ll be called). The people who have
signed up to be Neighbors/escorts/helpers get pinged, check your position, and
respond. Ideally, two will show up (to thwart terrible people using it as a way
to target vulnerable people). Once you make contact, you deactivate your call
for help, and the Neighbors/helpers walk you to your destination, wait with you
until your bus comes, tell those guys to stop harassing you, etc. Users must
post a photo, to assist in identifying each other, and will have some kind of
small insignia/logo/something that they can show as a Safe Person.
It’s like an electronic version of the safety pin, a way for
people who need help to get it, and for people who want to help to provide it. Anyone
registered/signed up can ask for help or provide it.
Possibly an adjunct feature would be “emotional help”
needed. If you’ve experienced abuse, harassment, received a threatening note,
otherwise feel shaken and would like some support, you can connect with a
nearby emotional helper. Maybe it’s just a hug, five minutes to listen to their
story, a few comforting words, a walk to the coffee shop. Maybe it’s sitting
for coffee with the person. Who knows? Not quite sure how this piece would
work, but it may be useful. But the primary thing is to connect people in scary
situations with people nearby ready to help.
I've been thinking about something like this for months, actually, after someone online somewhere posted about the feelings of fear after leaving a Pride celebration in a not-too-supportive city - the fear of walking from the bus or subway alone, an obvious queer person, and feeling like a target. And I felt furious, because - this is where allies can DO SOMETHING. Not just write thinkpieces about being white or straight or whatever, but actually get OUT THERE and put our bodies and ourselves out there on the line, in a small way, to protect the ones we are allegedly allied to.
I want to use my white privilege to help keep people safe. I want to help keep people safe because that is the right thing to do. It is the neighborly thing to do. It isn't fair that I can, if I want, simply duck my head and ignore it all. I have been increasingly feeling the wrongness of doing that, and now, in the wake of what feels like a horrible nightmare election, I REFUSE to just put my head down.
Someone make this app. Someone do SOMETHING. I will be doing whatever I can, whenever I can, for anyone who needs me.
