The Mighty People Project:
"We are the people, the mighty, mighty people."
As protests in Columbia began, there was no clear organizer or leader. However, local citizens could not just stand idly by after George Floyd's death. Out of this chaos, hope formed. It came in the shape of everyday people who came together for a common purpose...justice. Columbians young and old, black and white, and everything in between created leadership where there was none. This leadership formed into, "The People's Defense," whose goal is to combat injustices at the local level. As the summer progressed, I became interested in photographing these individuals while asking each person what they hoped the second civil rights movement would accomplish. I photographed each individual's portrait after I asked this question. I choose black and white to both honor the first civil rights movement and connect past, present, and future because B&W is timeless in its aesthetic. The name of the project is derived from "We the people, the mighty, mighty People. We are the equal, the mighty equal" which was chanted by protestors all summer long to express their solidarity, peacefulness, and desire for change.I also chose high contrast photos because I believe this style highlights the individuality of each person greater than other styles. The end results in these portraits reveal a wide range of emotions which were heavily influenced by the peron's perspective. Below are their stories.
2020 - Portraits
"I want to FINALLY see a majority of Americans valuing the lives and contributions of people of color. That this racist shit goes back into its hole and the racists of the country become the silent minority again. That the lives of people of color become valued within those communities and outside their communities. My ultimate goal is to change America into what it's supposed to have been. Up until now it's failed. I love my country and I know it can do better." - Miles A.
"I dream that one day we will truly shake the world into action when we see something wrong. This movement will not be the last. The moment we stop progressing is the moment we become like rocks at the bottom of a river. Life’s nature is to improve and progress, evolution is nature’s assurance of continuity of existence; stillness is unnatural, in the presence of wrongness, stillness is toxicity." - Christina G.
"I would like to see change happen in my lifetime. I do not have much faith in humanity right now. If we start teaching our kids young we can see the beginning of the end of racism in the next couple generations. My hope is that our children and grandchildren will bring about true change. I would like to see more people unite against social and racial injustice." -Alfred P.
"I’m looking for change on all levels. People’s hearts are changing. Laws need to change. America is learning that all lives aren’t equal right now, although some are learning quicker than others. We have these uproars every 5 or so years and we need to make sure this is the last uproar we’ll need." - Kirubel M.
"Nothing will change out of all this. Nothing ever changes. Its all the same shit. But it isn't right. Cops killing people, them killing black people. Enough is enough. We need more people behind this if anything is to become of all this. I am out here and I am 80 years old. HERE!! HERE!! If I can be out here for change then so can you but we need more people supporting this. My hope is we have more people keep fighting for the cause." - Bill
"My hopes and expectations are complex and simple. Its finish what the greats before us started. Rome wasnt built in a day nor will our true freedom and equality be granted. Change is inevitable but if one stays the course, you live long enough to see change come. I am determined to inspire. Determined to cause necessary trouble, good trouble, and true change...MY ASPIRATIONS." - Roy L.
"We are sitting at a moment of opportunity. We have seen surface level changes and positive words from public and private leaders alike. It is our duty to hold them to account and make sure that words are turned into reality, and that surface changes develop into systemic changes." - Doug M.
"I want to be the change you want to see in the world. I spend every day that I humanly can out there protesting and fighting in this second American Revolution because I dont care if I am not there to see victory, but someone has to be willing to fight for the changes to have that victory." - Adam S.
"I am hoping that this movement makes tangible and systemic changes in our society. I want to see the police actually defunded or at the very least reformed. I want to see the officers who have killed people charged and convicted for these murders. I want to look back on this time in history and see a tangible change. I hope that someday when I have kids that they will go to parades celebrating this movement instead of protests fighting for it." - Abby S.
"The hope would be for us to unite and not exclude blacks from the privileges that whites get in business, education, jobs , medical etc. Every generation of political activists must generate its own leadership. The Black community has a history of inspirational and militant leaders to emulate, including W.E.B. Dubois, MLK, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael. As a political credo I say, " Black and white, unite and fight." - Michael B.
"My hopes and expectations from this second Civil Rights movement is basically pretty simple. I want actual change this time, I want this to be the LAST civil rights movement. I don't want my son to wake up and it be his friend on the news. One of my friend's babies. I'm sick and tired of the hurt, and pain that comes from the injustice in our justice system. Enough is enough." - Anna K.
"I want civil rights and non discriminatory legislation that can provide all people to feel safe and equal. I expect that this movement can normalize conversations surrounding race towards people of all ages and how it has a role in everything, including education, housing, policing, and businesses. During this time, white people need to recognize their privilege and use it to amplify BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) voices." -Eddie F
"We have made progress with the passage of the George Floyd criminal justice legislation and the John Lewis restoration act. We must continue the fight for justice by getting these crucial bills passed in the Senate and signed into law" - Stephen W.
"I hope to see basic human rights improved drastically. I hope to see TRUE equality. I hope to no longer see police brutality and have them get actual training, not just once before getting the job but monthly training. I hope to see more qualified, as well as efficiently trained professionals for anyone dealing with any mental health crisis instead of untrained police dealing with those calls. I hope to see the profiling for people of color to be put to an end." - Carrie G.
"This is a country and a world that has been built for straight, cisgender, non-disabled, white men on the backs of everyone else, specifically black people that were forced into slavery. We are continuing a legacy of people fighting for equality of opportunity, fairness under the law, and acceptance and respect from their fellow citizens. People have been fighting for generations for a better world. It’s just our turn to take up that fight." - Adrienne M.
"My hopes from this movement are for my kid to not have to come and do this himself. That we get actual change. My expectations are that we get actual change and not just go with some BS the government hands us." - Skylar R.
"I want all people of different beautiful shades of melanin to truly feel safe and that they belong. Right now they’re being treated like second-class citizens. To ignore what is happening to our black brothers and sisters is nothing short of being willfully ignorant. “Ignorance is bliss“ is a phrase used by those who refuse to accept reality and to make themselves feel better about dismissing injustice. We will not stop until we have change." - Nayeli P.
"I hope that we accomplish the things that we spent 400+ years trying to accomplish. That it won’t be overtaken or overshadowed by other movements. That one day our children won't have to fight for the same things we are still fighting for today. That we can change things everywhere and then we truly all have a voice that can and will be heard. That we can change the fact that Black people are still considered fractions of people. - Jacquelyn W.
"I want people to start understanding that our government has been fucked for so long and it’s time for change. It’s bigger than Black Lives Matter and this is where we have to start and we got to keep this momentum moving because we have a lot more to do. We desperately need police reform." - Preston M.
