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?
I am Yahshiyah Vines. A 20 year old black man. A black man with passion, intelligence and integrity. A black man who is making it his mission to change our future one day at a time, wether that be through protesting or a simple conversation. All my life I’ve faced trials and tribulations to reach this point of maturity and awareness. All of my family’s history has led up to me being the one to stand up, not only for black people, but for righteousness and peace. So when you hear the name Yahshiyah Vines don’t just think of me. Think of change.
2. Is this your first time protesting?
This is my first time protesting and organizing protests. I have always been vocal about social issues that i see around the world but this time things felt different and it hit home so i took it upon myself to organize and lead people for inspiration. My first organized protest had 25,000 people in attendance and it was beautiful. To be able to inspire and speak to that many people is a blessing and i am grateful to see people feel as strongly about the struggles of black men and women in America as me
3. What led you to take direct action for the Black Lives Matter movement? Or What led you to
organize your own protest?
The main reason for me taking action has to do with the death of my older cousin Delrawn Small. He was shot by an off duty police officer in July of 2016 and he has yet to receive justice. I wanted to inspire the youth and my people to take action as well so I’m honestly just leading by example. We don’t want anymore names to be a hashtag. We don’t want any more mothers fathers sisters and brothers to die at the hands of hatred. If a 20 year old black man can risk his life to bring about change then anyone can. That’s the reason for me taking action. I had to do what was right in my heart
4. Was there a moment that changed your perspective on racial inequality in America and if so can you describe that?
My mind was definitely changed after protesting. I realize that racial inequality mainly resides in the system of America. Millions of people protested white, black, asian, from all races and all ages. This opened my eyes and I realized that people have love in their heart and not hatred. No matter how many news stories, no matter how many Karen’s we see, no matter how many negative things we see in the media the people truly love each other and stand for justice.
5. What makes BLM protest today feel different than previous movements we’ve seen or studied?
I think this movement is different because the whole world was watching when George Floyd was murdered. The whole world heard him cry out for his mother. Some people didn’t feel a Way but most people did. It was different because it raised awareness for so many people who are ignorant and blind to the injustices and the racism that Black people face in America. It was also different because the whole world was participating no matter how they felt about it. Even the kids knew about the protesting. The death of George Floyd and the protesting has brought together millions of people thousands of people that probably would’ve never spoken to each other without this happening. Through protesting in New York we change laws and we were able to pass bills that we thought would’ve never been past and that was the power of unity in the power of the people. This movement really made a lot of people realize how powerful they are and then the power lies in their hands and their words and their actions and that’s the beauty of it and that’s what really makes it different.
6. What do you see as the demands of the movement?
The demands of the movement is truly to to change how people think and how people see the system. The demands of the moment or to change laws and pass laws passed certain bills that will help Black people for how long we’ve been set back. Not only are people waking up to the police brutality but people are also waking up to the prison system, the harassment in our communities, and the inhumane treatment of Black people in America. People are demanding change and they will not stop until they see it. We don’t only wanna change the system we want to change the world we want to change how the kids think and how the kids look at each other because racism is not inherited it is taught.
7. What do you think is next for the movement and how would you like to see it evolve?
I think it’s next to the moment and what’s best for the moment is that people start educating themselves on law and people start educating themselves on social issues. Instead of depending on the people who are corrupt in the people have failed us time and time again I think in the future we will see more people that look like us in the White House and the Senate becoming congressman and congresswomen. What’s next for the moment is for the people to actually use their power and unite instead of being separated and divided because united we stand divided we fall.
8. What do you say to people that are witnessing but maybe feel distant or not involved in the movement?
To the people that are witnessing this moment in history and aren’t involved,I just asked him to speak to somebody who is intelligent on what’s going on and what’s actually happening and it will probably change your mind and your perspective on the whole movement. If you take a day out of your time to protest with the people and talk and see how raw other emotions are and how emotional it is they would probably feel the need to be more involved
9. Is there anything else you want to speak on regarding the movement?
Last thing I wanna say is that even though we are the ones protesting our kids are going to be the ones affected by what’s going on right now. They will have to carry the torch and continue to fighting so it’s up to us to educate them and guide them in the right direction. The kids are easily miss guided so if we guide them the correct way in the righteous way they will be very powerful and very united in anything they put their mind to they can do it so like I said it is up to us to educate them so they can change the world.
