BASS and #Javion vs. Sundown Towns

Black Business in green. Sundown Activity in red.

Sundown activity follows thriving Black Business activity. The photo above speaks for itself. We understand the "great migration" and how we were recruited to drive the industrial revolution all over the country. We know that jealousy and the will to thwart Black thriving explains the patterns of development of sundown activity.

IYKYK...

When I first started creating this app, the most rewarding feature that I was learning/coding into the app was the mapping features. I want the app to be mostly used for providing local Black-owned solutions for anyone looking for a service or product. So I explored the features, pins, animations, regions, circles, polygons... it went deep.

I needed test data so I started looking on the web for data that could be easily imported and demonstrated. I first loaded an untrusted sample dataset from Yelp among other datasets. It mapped out supposed Black businesses in/around LA. I did a few quality checks that yielded things like Ethiopian restaurants labelled as "Black" and auto shops that were Black-owned but have moved, closed, or changed management. However, it did accurately show Black business districts as they still exist (mostly gentrified) or how they existed before.

Sundown Town Map | History and Social Justice, inspired by James W. Loewen

A database contributed by people across the nation underlies these maps and the tables you can generate.

History and Social Justice

Another easily tested dataset was Tougaloo College's Sundown database. I uploaded the data into the mapping prototype I had created for the app. At first blush it was pretty interesting. I represented the sundown "incidents" as a bunch of circles on the map. The circles were supposed to indicate a radius of where sundown events occurred. I then decided to augment the data by scaling the circles based on the "severity" of the incidents. Things like a "sundown sign" warning Black people to stay out were small circle items. Violent incidents received a larger radius. Look at the top image again. The results were dramatic! All this brings us to the topic of Javion.

About #Javion

A 21-year-old who by all accounts was a rising star in our community. He was starting his career and life on sure footing by becoming a truck driver... A solid career at a volatile economic time. His family and friends speak highly of him with absolutely nothing standing out as obstacles to his path. He was following in his father's footsteps as a truck driver and an entrepreneur. Considered highly admirable among us here at the BASS app and GRFBA. We understand infrastructure. We understand business. So did Javion.

There is a lot that I want to say about this tragedy but none of it is going to bring Javion back and none of it is going to make what happened in Henderson any easier to stomach. The current narrative from the local the local law enforcement is that this event is somehow self inflicted. My suspicions, are that Black men with bright futures don't hang themselves. In fact, its my belief that Black men don't ever hang themselves at all.

What's BASS got do do with it?

That being said, the BASS app was ALWAYS intended to help truck drivers know where Sundown towns are and where it might be "safer" to stop, eat, refuel, etc. In fact a lot of the artwork created by the BASS app is by someone in the trucking industry himself. He actually asked if this feature would be a thing at the outset of me showing the sundown database, and I promised him it would be.

So here are some examples of the current implementation of looking at sundown activity on the app. When I first heard about Javion, a friend asked if Henderson is a sundown town. It is not, but there are two towns on the way from Chicago that are...

Here are a few posts that others have asked about sundown towns...

What about Texas...