Smiling Young White People Make App for Avoiding Black Neighborhoods

[KamaAina]

Sadly, not The Onion.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/smiling-young-white-people-make-app-for-avoiding-black-1617775138

Is there any way to keep white people from using computers, before this whole planet is ruined? I ask because the two enterprising white entrepreneurs above just made yet another app for avoiding non-white areas of your town—and it's really taking off!...

Crain's reports on SketchFactor, a racist app made for avoiding "sketchy" neighborhoods, which is the term young white people use to describe places where they don't feel safe because they watched all five seasons of The Wire:...

With firsthand experience living in Washington, D.C., where white terror is as ubiquitous as tucked-in polo shirts, grinning caucasians Allison McGuire and Daniel Herrington should be unstoppable in the field of smartphone race-baiting—they're already finalists in a $20,000 startup contest! But don't worry: they're not racist. It says so right on their blog, which asks people to share "sketchy" stories about strangers they spot:...

Oh, well in that case. The app launches tomorrow, so it's probably safest to just stay indoors until then.

Racism. There's an app for that.

[Orrex]

1. On the plus side...

It seems likely that black people won't have to deal with these assholes.

[4139]

3. NY Daily news article on it

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/new-sketchfactor-app-shows-streets-safe-article-1.1896091#bmb=1

[Nye Bevan]

6. Good article. Didn't even mention the racial aspect that some are seeing.

Probably because the author of it is not a racist who assumes that "sketchy neighborhood" automatically means "black neighborhood".

[AgingAmerican]

15. The app shows racial profiling

And allows users to avoid areas where it is happening, as it is happening.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcjfhcvyc1skkax/SketchFactor-promo-video.mp4

[Nye Bevan]

2. Again. This app has nothing to do with race.

And the developers have promised that any racist postings will be removed. Unlike, for example, the Youtube app.

Assuming that an app is racist because it was developed by whites is, in itself, racist.

[KamaAina]

4. No, it's racist because it shows whites how to avoid black neighborhoods.

"Sketchy" is a hipster dog whistle for "black".

[Nye Bevan]

5. You are the one claiming that "sketchy" is equivalent to "black".

I would suggest some self-analysis as to why this was your immediate reaction.

[Orrex]

8. Didn't you read the article? They're totally not racist.

Why, I'll bet that they even have friends who are black.

[Nye Bevan]

13. Do you have the slightest shred of evidence that these folks are racist?

Or is this just obnoxious innuendo?

[Orrex]

17. Do you have the slightest shred of evidence that I claimed that they're racist?

Au contraire! I stated clearly that "they're totally not racist." Are you sure that you're not projecting in a racist manner?


I admit to calling them assholes, but I say that about a lot of appsters.

[Nye Bevan]

18. My apologies. I misinterpreted your "I bet they even have friends who are black" comment

as snide innuendo. Now I understand that you were genuinely stating that the app developers are not racists and probably have black friends. And in this you are probably correct.

[LanternWaste]

9. Creative allegation.

"This app has nothing to do with race..."

Creative allegation.

[Nye Bevan]

10. Lots of people here immediately equating "sketchy" with "black".

Kind of surprising, on a supposedly progressive board.

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. so how many white "SKETCHY" nieghborhoods

Are listed?

Even IF it wasnt racist its definitely classist. I suppose some really would prefer a caste system.....

[Louisiana1976]

30. I'm poor. If I weren't living in the apartment high-rise I live in I'd be living in a sketchy

neighborhood.

[VanillaRhapsody]

41. but you're not...

[JI7]

29. why would it be surprising ? progressives are usually aware of history, racism, and other issues

[Chan790]

38. It's because "sketchy" is explicitly a code-phrase in metro DC...

especially among the wealthy urban white population for "poor and black." Not merely poor...nobody describes Rhode Island Ave NE as "sketchy."

Anacostia is "sketchy."

It's kind of like how poly people identify each other on Facebook by coded use of the relationship status "It's complicated"; it's obvious to like-minded people while not freaking out your mom that you're "in an open relationship."

[Nye Bevan]

40. Not according to Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sketchy

I read as far down as definition number 30, and nothing about race was ever mentioned.

[Chan790]

43. Dude...I lived there.

In DC, "sketchy" means "poor and black." The fact that Urban Dictionary doesn't confirm that to you is not my ish. Just accept it, like when people from wherever you're from define the local colloquialisms to out-of-towners.

Your insistence on defending this is starting to take on a bad odor. If something is this apparently racist that multiple people have commented on it, you might want to consider that you're simply wrong to think it isn't.

Edit: I said "I live here"...I moved to the CT suburbs of NYC 7 months ago. So, technically, "I lived there." I don't think this has changed since 1/2014 though.

[Nye Bevan]

45. OK, so maybe you and your buddies used "sketchy" as a code-phrase.

But it seems that the majority of people do not. If this was at all common it would have probably earned a mention in a dictionary or two. Or made the top 50 definitions of the word on Urban Dictionary.

[Inkfreak]

52. Discussion of the app aside.

Sketchy is not a term for black that I've ever heard. I'm 35. Lived up & down the east coast. Now I don't pretend to know every slang word around but I've never used it or heard it used that way. I hear it a lot. So who determined it is now a code word?

[hfojvt]

7. "Is there any way to stop white people from using computers before the whole planet is ruined"

How nice that the author is totally against racism.

Now if the dumbfuck could only find a mirror.

[Nye Bevan]

12. Quite a few critics of this app could use a mirror.

"It's RACIST to avoid sketchy neighborhoods..... because SKETCHY means BLACK!"

"Sketchy = black" is an interesting knee-jerk reaction, to say the least.

[Enrique]

11. that judgement is based on nothing

that article is simply irrational.

It would be more rational to say that white people sometimes fear neighborhoods based on the number of black people they see there, and better yet back that up with facts, but that has nothing to do with any app.

[Vattel]

14. As portrayed in the Wire, all of Baltimore is really safe (unless you are in a gang).

Everyone who doesn't sell is a potential customer!

[AgingAmerican]

16. Divisive nonsense

nt

[Jamaal510]

19. I don't know much about

this app besides what I've read from this article, but I wouldn't have a problem with it at all as long as it tells people which neighborhoods to avoid on the basis of crime statistics, rather than using demographic information.

[KamaAina]

21. Then a better name for it would be "CrimeFactor"

no?

[KamaAina]

23. The correct Oakland test for that would be Montclair

an affluent, largely African American neighborhood with no discernible "sketch factor" whatsoever.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Where are you getting data suggesting that Montclair is "largely African American?"

My experience (and the few sites I've seen with breakdowns for Montclair separate from the city) show it as an overwhelmingly white area.

[KamaAina]

36. Historically

the nearby mostly white areas in the hills may be skewing that.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

20. I'll have to see what it says about South Boston before I pass judgement

There are overwhelmingly white neighborhoods in Boston that I wouldn't set foot in after dark.

Oh, and Federal Hill in Providence. Great restaurants, but your waiter may not have paid the vig last week and here comes Short Al and Rocco to settle up.

[KamaAina]

22. Thread win!

[KamaAina]

24. One of my dearest friends is a Brownie

(that is, she went to Brown in Providence )

and she and the other people in her building had a problem with one of the neighbors. The landlord was connected, so the mob made the problem go away.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

25. You either get the mob, or Buddy Cianci to handle it

Actually, what's funny is Federal Hill is really getting out of hand lately. Some guy got his head smashed in with a cinder block two weeks ago, and now let's say...."the regulars" of Federal Hill are complaining about "the riff-raff" who are showing up lately. It's all quite amusing.

I would still recommend almost any restaurant in Federal Hill however. Amazing food.

[KamaAina]

26. There's a difference?

[smirkymonkey]

56. I would second that.

I live in Boston Proper now, but when I lived in Charlestown years ago I wouldn't go anywhere near the C-town projects (white, primarily Irish-American). Interestingly enough, I remember black cab drivers asking me to get out of their cabs when I asked them to drive me to C-town, even though I lived near the Monument. THEY didn't even want to go anywhere near the C-town projects, to the point of avoiding the entire neighborhood altogether even though it was becoming mostly gentrified by that point.

[MADem]

27. Where's the app so black folks can avoid sanctimonious racists, I wonder? nt

[Enrique]

34. the sanctimonious white Gawker writer lives in Brooklyn

as an Hispanic, I'd like to avoid him too but for reasons having ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with his race.

[MADem]

35. I hear that! nt

[KitSileya]

46. This is a crowd-sourced app.

Someone on another website suggested that if this app should go live, minorities should use it actively to report instances of racism, sexism, and homophobia. That would even things out a little bit, I would bet.

[MADem]

47. I take your point. Even so,

I wouldn't pay a penny for it--I wouldn't want a couple of racists to get rich off their bigotry.

[KitSileya]

48. Oh, I agree.

As has been pointed out in this thread, 'sketchy' is a bird-whistle word for 'they don't look like us'. As we have seen in so many, many tragic cases, from Trayvon to this week's shooting of John Crawford, black boys and men are considered inherently more dangerous than white boys and men. We see it play out on the news and on tv shows every week, and so many (most!) people who use this app will have a lower threshold for reporting a black man as threatening than a white man. That makes the app inherently racist - it cannot be used in the US (or the rest of the Western world, for that matter) without escaping the racism that is still such a big part of our cultures. Garbage in=garbage out, as every computer nerd knows.

[MADem]

49. +1 and nicely stated, too! nt

[Enrique]

32. the app includes "racial profiling" as one of the factors

of sketchiness.

So the people asking rhetorical questions about Sanford, FL, the smiling white people are way ahead of you.

[Niceguy1]

51. thanks for the screen shot

Seems pretty useful

[Ken Burch]

33. Is there an app that lets you avoid people who use THAT app?

[Nye Bevan]

37. Yeah, just use the same app and only stay in the neighborhoods rated the sketchiest (nt)

[mythology]

39. It's really sad that people are promoting this article.

There is absolutely nothing in the article that ties the app to racism. But why bother with evidence? Instead accuse and demand others provide proof they aren't. What utter nonsense.

[VanillaRhapsody]

42. pretty easy....how many "sketchy" neighborhoods are predominately White?

what's the breakdown?

[Revanchist]

50. Would it be racist if I downloaded the app and marked this place as sketchy?

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/armed-waitresses-pack-the-heat-colorado-restaurant

Seems like a place I would want to avoid.

[Nye Bevan]

58. Nope, and that's exactly the kind of use the developers envisage (nt)

[Inkfreak]

53. The app is silly.

And I have no idea if they are racist or not. I don't know them. But I'm not understanding where "sketchy" is code word for black. Who determined this? And when? I've used it often along with a lot of folks I know and never in reference to just black people. It's people you don't trust or don't like, seem creepy or make you nervous.

[Nye Bevan]

57. It's very weird how all of a sudden several DUers are solemnly prounouncing that "sketchy"

is a "racist code-word". A simple Google DU search reveals that many highly respected DUers have been using this word over the years. Are they all closet racists?

Obviously if this was really a racist code-word nobody here should be using it, its use should result in hidden posts and PPRs. The thing is, of course, that it is not really a racist code-word.

[McDiggy]

54. This is actually pretty much chicken vs egg.

Areas that are "sketchy" are that way because the black urban underclass is trapped there. They ARE "sketchy" areas. If you think I'm going to hang out around Kenzo in Philly where there are more drug corners than gas stations, you are nuts. And, yes, its majority black there. But that's not why I avoid it. I avoid it because people are murdered there every day. The real question we should be asking is why are these high crime areas filled with black people? Lack of jobs, social mobility, a psychological trap in the cycle of hopelessness, etc. Its not implicitly "racist." It simply reflects the reality of the failed American dream for black people.

That's what this discussion should be about.

But, hey, this is DU. Sure, we could be talking about the American underclass. But let's not miss a chance to tell white people that they are all racists rather than simply wanting to avoid high crime areas. Imagine if the app was written by nothing but white men. My god, people on here would be drooling at the mouth.

[2pooped2pop]

55. well put n/t

[PoliticAverse]

59. "news crew was robbed in DC while working on a story about ... app"

A news crew was robbed in DC while working on a story about an app that alerts people of "sketchy" neighborhoods.

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/weird/2014/08/09/wusa-news-crew-robbed/13825215/