Meet James A. Samuel, Jr., a Black veteran who has launched a new app called ANJEL Tech that turns any smartphone into the world’s most powerful bodycam during confrontations with the police. James said that he became tired of raising kids in a world that forces them to understand they’re unsafe in their skin before they even learn their ABCs.
He continues, “When George Floyd was being asphyxiated, he was calling out verbally for his mother. When Lt. Caron Nazario was pulled over, he recorded the incident on his phone, but imagine if they both had been able to instantly and automatically alert their loved ones to come. Imagine if the footage of any these horrific incident had been controlled by the victim himself. That’s what ANJEL Tech does. I’ve created an app that reduces the emotional, financial, and physical toll of racial profiling.”
How it works:
When activated, the ANJEL Tech app sends a live stream of the incident as well as alerts with GPS directions to the person’s location so that loved ones can be there the instant they’re needed to help. The app is also discrete so that the person in need can quietly ask for help without an aggressor noticing. It also automatically saves the audio and footage that can be utilized later to demand accountability. Even more, the video evidence is kept secure and accessible unlike the footage from police cams that can easily be edited or deleted.
“I know too many Black moms who have received a phone call that turned their world upside down in an instant. And too many others who’ve had to live with the possibility of it happening every day since the first time their kid left for school,” James said. “Watching George Floyd asphyxiated on that asphalt scared me, awakened me, and motivated me to change the world.”
