The Courageous Conversation Global Foundation (CCGF) has unveiled a provocative and symbolic new innovation: HndsUp, a conceptual wearable camera designed for civilians. Worn on the wrist to ensure it’s distinguishable from a weapon, the device is voice-activated with the command “hands up,” which triggers it to record an encounter, upload footage to local news outlets, and notify emergency contacts. The screen also displays a body scan to visibly show that the wearer is unarmed.
2024 marked the deadliest on record for police violence in the United States, with 326 Black people killed by police—a staggering 12% increase from the previous year. Often overlooked in the broader narrative, Black women, who make up just 10% of the U.S. female population, account for 20% of all women killed by police and nearly a third of unarmed female victims.
Despite the widespread adoption of police body cameras, only 20% of fatal civilian encounters are captured on video. Even when footage exists, it’s frequently compromised—blurred, missing, or never recorded due to failure to activate the device. And 93% of the time, that footage is used to prosecute civilians, not officers.
Developed with David&Goliath Brooklyn, HndsUp is more than a product—it’s a statement. It’s a futuristic warning system imagined to protect lives, but its creators openly hope it’s never needed.
“This is a product we hope we never have to make,” said Glenn E. Singleton, Founder and Board Chair of CCGF. “Technology can record. But it cannot prevent violence. What can? Police training, awareness, and courageous conversations that address the root of systemic racism.”
The campaign launches during International Black Women’s History Month, highlighting the invisible labor and leadership of Black mothers who’ve spent generations protecting their children from police violence. The centerpiece is a haunting film [link], underscored by a striking score from DaHouse Audio and brought to life with CGI from JAMM, that dramatizes the heartbreaking stakes of these encounters—and the potential of HndsUp to help make them visible. Watch below:
While conceptual, every aspect of the HndsUp device is engineered to illustrate how technology could provide civilians with protection in an unequal system. But as the campaign makes clear, real change won’t come from gadgets—it must come from within institutions and the people who power them.
“Our goal with HndsUp is simple: to save lives,” Singleton said. “And beyond that, to spark a national reckoning with how racism is embedded in the structures meant to protect us.”
The foundation urges support for its ongoing racial equity training programs, which provide de-escalation training and healing spaces for communities and law enforcement alike. Their work has been called “transformative” by law enforcement leaders and is rooted in confronting implicit bias and rebuilding trust through action, not surveillance.
As Singleton puts it: “Police don’t need more tech. They need more training. And that’s what we provide.”
CREDITS
BRAND: Courageous Conversation Global Foundation
- Founder & President: Glenn Singleton
- Director, Marketing & Communications: Gabriel Joshua Gima
- Executive Director: Madame Athena Chang
- Program Director & Board Member: Madison Potts McAdoo
Agency: David&Goliath Brooklyn
- Founder & Creative Chairman: David Angelo
- Chief Creative Officer: Ben Purcell
- Chief Strategy Officer: Brendan Robertson
- Creative Directors: Ambrosio Ballon, Andrea Vega
- ACDs: Israel Medeiros, Marcos Botelho
- Design Director: Michael Molinaro
- Associate Design Director: Max Olson
- Senior Motion Designer: Eric Johnson
- Case Film ECD: Avi Pinchevsky
- Chief of Social Impact: Blake Winfree
- Director of Strategy, Social Impact: Madison Cameron
- Senior Developer: Rudy Perez
- Senior Digital Designer: Ricardo Turegano
- Communications Strategist: Alanie Abron
- Managing Director, Integrated Production: Peter Bassett
- Senior Integrated Producer: Michael Van Pelt
- Chief of Integration: Amy Chiang
- Group Account Director: Janet Wang
AUDIO: DaHouse Audio
- Composers & Producers: Lucas Mayer & Silvinho Erné
- Sound Design: Lucas Mayer
- Executive Producers: Lucas Mayer & Carol Masseti
VFX: JAMM
- Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
- Comp Lead: Graziella Gandolfi
- Comp: Paul Downes
- CG Artist: Brian Burke
- CG Artist: Logan Pittman
- CG Artist: Shao Chen
- CG Artist: Yu Fujii
- CG Artist: Ben Martin
- CG Artist: Fred Hopp
- Producer: Anne-Marie DePauw
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