This project is called Portraits for Protest. I wanted to take powerful and beautiful portraits of specific protesters from all walks of life in order to add real faces to the BLM movement. This includes Black men and women, Black Trans, Asian, Latino and Palenstinian people. I’m hoping that by doing this, I can get people who are observing the sea of protesters to feel connected and empowered to participate. Along with the photos, I conducted short written interviews that speak to the individual asks of the movement and why people are involved.
1. Who are you?
I am Darius Jones, a student & Model from Bergen County, NJ.
2. Is this your first time protesting?
This is not my first time protesting, my grandmother is a part of the NAACP in Burlington and I’ve marched in Philadelphia before with her as a kid.
3. What led you to take direct action for the Black Lives Matter movement? Or What led you to organize your own protest?
What led me to take direct action for the movement is definitely the George Floyd incident as well as every other police brutality incident in the past Trayvon Martin etc. but more than that, I had a friend that was killed by someone driving under tree influence and he was a well known white guy around the town but he was not held accountable to the fullest extent of the law for taking an innocent life at the age of 16 so that was a massive scar that has been left, having to see his family go through so much pain and even having to move from their house because the memories hurt too much. This incident changed my perspective on racial inequality and truly showed me what white privilege really is. It got very little if any press at all. This is around 2013-14.
4. What makes BLM protest today feel different than previous movements we’ve seen or studied?
The BLM protests are different for me for two reasons, first because I’m actually getting to relive what I see in the films about the civil rights movement minus the fire hoses everything is pretty much similar and two because there is an overwhelming amount of support from other communities which is beautiful to see!
5. What do you see as the demands of the movement?
The demands for the movement are to dismantle the system created to oppress those that don’t meet a certain ideal and to start a new system that treats everyone equally. But honestly I believe we shouldn’t demand anything but of ourselves because we can’t ask the oppressors to stop oppressing we just have to create a revolution and overthrow. Stop relying on the government to change the laws when the power is really with the people. The left & the right wing are two separate wings of the same bird! Create a black independent party
6. What do you think is next for the movement and how would you like to see it evolve?
What I think is next is that there will be minor changes in policies but I honestly would love to see the movement become more economically focused as far as creating more groups that teach Dr. Claude Anderson’s Blueprint to Ending racism and that is first to Start with Economics, then Politics, then courts and police, then media, then education. This is how we gain and keep our power because it’s important to gain power but if we don’t KEEP it the whole movement is pointless
