A father explains 'Driving while Black' through VR
This virtual reality experience is designed to fight racism, at a time when racial unrest is flaring across the United States.
Software engineer Bryant Young drew on his own experiences when creating it.
Courtesy: Our America
"So Our America VR is a branching narrative VR experience about being Black in America. It takes you through the story as a Black father and he's with his son, Malcolm, on the way to school. So basically, the audience has to go through these different scenarios, whether it's subtle or overt racism, and has to navigate these different conversations and interactions properly."
"It's unfortunate that the project is timely because that means the stuff is still going on, but this isn't stuff that we didn't know was going on. We in the Black community, we knew this was happening beforehand, it's just that now there's a bigger light being shown than justice in America. I really just hope that this experience can make some positive change, whether it just makes one person change your mind and be like, hey, maybe I should rethink about how I view the Black community or how (I view) what they're going through.''
The project caught the eye of 3D software company, Unity, who awarded Young a grant to fully realize his project, as part of their Unity For Humanity competition.
Young said the idea was born out of an unpleasant interaction he had with a police officer when he was a 16-year-old driver.
The 25-year-old and his team hope to have it finished by September.
'It's not five minutes in a VR headset, but hopefully this is going to bring some insight so people can better understand our situation and things that we go through on a daily basis."
