Bottom line: it makes a very, very sad sense that it's a lot more dangerous for a black man, or black youth, to go wandering back and forth and around and through through neighborhoods / streets / apartment complexes / commercial centers.
I've heard stories of people playing Ingress (the previous Niantic game with a similar mechanic) and being stopped by police on patrol, or where people have called in about "a stranger behaving suspiciously" in areas while playing it at odd hours. I can absolutely see where, in some places, with some police forces, where this sort of thing could end tragically — and that it would be more likely to end tragically for a person of color.
Which is just awful.
Pokémon Go Could Be A Death Sentence For A Black Man
This week has been a catastrophe for Blackness. Two men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were killed by police officers within 24 hours of each other. Neither had committed a crime that was punishable by death nor did they put any officers lives at risk. It’s inexcusable, unjustifiable, and is perpetuated by a system that disproportionately targets Black Men. Then in the same week, police officers in Dallas were killed during an otherwise pe…
Perhaps a guild of designated square-looking white dudes to go along?