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 Palestinian 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?
Micah!
2. Is this your first time protesting?
I've been protesting for some time, now.
3. What led you to take direct action for the Black Lives Matter movement? Or What led you to
organize your own protest?
I think many of us including myself were moved to take action in the Black Lives Matter movement when Eric Garnered was murdered for selling loose cigarettes by a cop who was never held accountable for it. What led me to organize my own this time was feeling the same thing start to happen the way it did then where the movement was losing steam, when we still had all of these cops who had murdered black women walking free. The service industry workers in our neighborhood have been organizing for some time and it was a quick decision together to plan a march for Breonna Taylor the following day, which ended up having a big turnout of people who felt the same way we did about not letting up until we saw true change.
4. Was there a moment that changed your perspective on racial inequality in America and if so
can you describe that?
Racial inequality has always been something I've.. known, but I think between Eric Garner's murder and beginning to organize around Bernie Sander's original 2016 campaign, I started to actually research the true nature of it, not just how we are being treated in person, but the things that have been structured throughout our history and our foundations, the entire system of capitalism being built around and made to thrive from racial inequality, and I realized all the work that needed to be done and that had been done by people before us to make sure we could even protest, fight back and make change and knew I had to do whatever I could to join in the fight.
5. What makes BLM protest today feel different than previous movements we’ve seen or
studied?
I think the demands centered around abolishing the police is definitely a new and amazing step forward in actually breaking down the systems that are designed against us. We are starting to figure out that we will never truly get the things we need to live free if we continue to have structures designed to keep us sick, lacking access to quality education, tired and hungry, homeless. We are realizing that police have always been there to protect property and keep black people in prison, or dead, because the police originated to chase escaped slaves and still see us as such. We are also realizing that together, we are mighty and capable of winning our demands.
6. What do you see as the demands of the movement?
For now, defunding, dismantling and abolishing the police and fighting racism not only in the streets and the police force, but in our homes, in our jobs, everywhere. Demanding justice for those who were lost to this racist system, justice for those who are in cages just for being black and trying to survive, justice for black children fed into the prison pipeline right from their schoolyard for profit. Justice for black trans women who are murdered and tortured and kicked out of their families and homes just for existing. There's many more.
7. What do you think is next for the movement and how would you like to see it evolve?
I'd like to see people get more involved in the organizations leading grassroots movements in their neighborhoods, and to see these fights spread to the other things we need and face in our communities. Housing, Education, Equality, these are all things we can win back for ourselves if we fight together!
8. What do you say to people that are witnessing but maybe feel distant or not involved in the
movement?
I think that everyone has a place in the revolution, and if they reach out and ask questions and start working on researching ways to help all of these causes, they’ll find something that works for them as a contirbution. If you cant make it to marches but you have a phone or computer, or a pen and paper, you can call text and write for so many difference issues we need to fight. You can do art, music, open your home to phonebanking, organize a tenants union in your apartment building with your neighbors, start a community garden and hold community meetings on issues you can organize around, anything! There is something anyone can do to change that distance into a contibution.
9. Is there anything else you want to speak on regarding the movement?
If you're reading this, find an organization and help keep this movement going by demanding real change! Our votes are not enough! We can win but only with a true grassroots movement led by US, the PEOPLE!
