Issuu

To Each Their Own

This book is about how our students cope with the pandemic. In their own unique visual voices, they have incorporated many things: still images, video, poetry, words, drawing and whatever else they need to communicate their ideas. In reaction to the murder of George Floyd and the swell of protests all over the world, they are also speaking loudly about race in this country.

Alessia Hu

Recently, I've been reading, "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Y. Davis. This book is about police abolition, a solution that is unimaginable to my parents — in fact, unrealistic. Therefore, to show the difference of our understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have taken a paragraph from this book and combined it with a photo of my father and his understanding of this movement.

Elizabeth Avila

Tehreem saleem

Why was George Floyd's death the tipping point? Why wasn’t Eric Garner’s? Tamir Rice’s? How about America's prison-industrial complex? The loophole in the 13th Amendment? Why did it take an explicit video for America to be exposed to the horrors Black Americans are facing in this day and age? I’m frustrated, angry, heartbroken — and I’ve been demanding justice and educating myself for as long as I can remember. It may have taken a while for some to experience this wakeup call, but there’s no better time than the present. Non-Black people of color and white moderates need to recognize their privilege, push to defund the police, and most importantly — educate themselves so people of color don't have to. Every single one of us has an individual responsibility that is manageable; nevertheless, the real work begins from our homes.

It’s interesting to see the white majority have an opinion on how the Black community should be expressing anger that is built up from over 400 years of oppression. People are quick to criticize rioting or the burning of a cop car, but never speak up every time a black life is lost due to police brutality. Black Americans have every right to express their anger the way they feel is right considering this country was built off of the blood, sweat, and tears of their enslaved ancestors. White America should feel lucky Black people just want justice, and not revenge. But why is it that anything the Black community and activists propose isn’t good enough for them? Martin Luther King and Malcolm X advocated for the liberation of their people by marching and speaking publicly, but they were both assassinated. People were against Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem, against looting Target (a big corporation that can be replaced), against peaceful protesting during a pandemic, and against the idea of prison and police abolition. The last thing Black people need right now is unsolicited opinions from people who will never understand what they go through. We need to invest in restorative justice for marginalized communities focused on rehabilitation, instead of prisons and punishment. We need to put our time and money into community resources, like healthcare and housing. After all, the safest communities don't have the most cops; they have the most resources.

I decided to organize a Black Lives Matter protest in my neighborhood. I was motivated by the courage of protesters around the world, and the anger I felt towards the legal system and other powerful, yet biased, institutions in America. I recall New Yorkers on their bikes putting their fists up in solidarity as my friends and I marched around Chelsea. It was a powerful and peaceful way to be an ally to the Black community. For those who don’t know where to begin, recognizing your privilege and seeking to educate yourself is a start. I learn something new every day. Malcolm X once said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The Black Lives Matter movement is not a phase or a trend, and I believe a revolution is long overdue so that justice may be rightfully served. Tehreem Saleem

Photo by lauren welles

camille berkovits

Grace McNally

We The People: a collage of photos taken while citizens protest the murder of George Floyd.

morgan yee

Jarin rahman

protesters kneel at a black lives matter march.

june 4, 2020

richard kaulinsh

Brown Skin Girl

As a bla ck female in America, I fear anything and everything when I step outside of my house

As a black female in America, I feel as if my freedom of mo vement is limited

As a black female in America, I feel as if my opportunities are limited

As a black female in America, I feel as if I have to wear my hair a certain way just to fit in

As a black female in America, my heart beats faster every time a white person stops me to talk,

thinking they hate me already just because of the color of my skin

As a black female in America, I feel people think of me as loud, ghetto, and always angry when really, I just want my voice to be heard.

Watching all of these videos of police brutality has me thinking “Am I next?”

I pray to god every morning and night saying “please let me and my family live just one more day”

I make sure I text my stepdad “stay safe” and “I love you” when he’s out working not knowing if he’s gonna come back

People say that protesting won’t work yet Derek Chauvin’s murder charge increased

People say that protesting won’t work yet Breonna Taylor’s case reopened

People say that protesting won’t work yet $100 million was reinvested into communities of color in LA

All of this happened in a week so you can never tell us that protesting is useless.

I am a brown skin girl, a beautiful brown skin girl

Hair that is not as simple as a brush and go

Full volume hair that takes hours to maintain

I am a brown skin girl, a beautiful brown skin girl

When people see me with earphones on, they assume I’m listening to hip hop when reall y it’s something from the 60’s

I am a brown skin girl, a beautiful brown skin girl

Queen Latifah, Issa Rae, Tierra Whack, Beyoncé, Janelle Monae and many other black females in the celebrity world have inspired me to keep being who I am.

I am a brown skin girl, a beautiful brown skin girl

And they’ll never take my power

raquel moreira

a protester is arrested by New York City Police during a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Park Avenue and East 83rd Street, New York City. May 30, 2020

Kevin wong

jack pattarini

the police line up in foley square on the first day of the George Floyd protests.

may 30, 2020

Arsema hindeya

lola Mihok

alexia santamaria

The light inside our souls

Shows who we really are

For some it shines brightly in their eyes

For others, their eyes are not there

Or maybe they are, but the glass in their eyes was broken by an overflow of tears by something too painful to watch

Those who try to get close will cut their feet on the broken glass

They will never know because those people are too scared to stay up at night

They sleep when the sun goes because the sun shines brighter than them

So they worry that if they stay up past dark, the moon will lure them

To a place where they will unknowingly pour out their hearts and ignite the flame they were gifted

A flame given by God as a sign of life and beauty

They are afraid that the flame will be too much

Once the flame bursts it can consume you

The knives of memories and emotions will cut their hearts and reopen wounds that broke their eyes

They will bleed the past through their eyes

And the moon . . . she only wants to help

She will send tides to wash away your blood and tears

A Letter to What's Left of Humanit y

Much has happened after the dea th of George Floyd. People all over the world are protesting for equal rights. It's a shame that the human race, which has intelligence superior to other animals, still has to demand basic equal rights after thousands of years. Equal rights is only a wish that will never happen. The human race will destroy itself before it even considers people of color equal because racism is an idea engraved deep inside people’s heads. It's in our history. All people are racist in their own way, whether it's a lot or a little. The war of racism includes everyone.

I have a biased perspective since I am Mexican and mostly all the people I have ever known in my life have been Hispanics and Blacks. We have to work twice as hard to get half as far. Hispanics have also had a very hard history. When the Spanish came and then Columbus, many tribes went extinct. We were put in cages and treated like animals and that's still happening today to those who are just trying to find a better life. We were raped, enslaved, our beautiful gold and silver taken from us by the Europeans because we were “savages.” Money was taken back to Europe only to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. How could savages build pyramids? How could savages get medicine, have brain surgery, anesthesia, calendars and the concept of zero? If we were only really savages then European armies should have taken us out sooner, if they were so “advanced.” The only thing they had that was “advanced” was their diseases. Advanced people should not take losses from savages, but they did. They had to wait till their diseases took hold and killed over half of our population to then attack. They knew that if they attacked sooner they would lose. It’s a genocide no one talks about. We were tortured by the Europeans. In one experience I read, when Europeans kept Natives as slaves they tested out the sharpness of their swords on their skin. Every race has suffered. But who is even considered White? In the Gilded Age when more Europeans came, even the Irish, who we consider White, were not considered White by other Whites. They were above Blacks but below “Whites.” Whites these days say to Blacks, “go back to your country” when they brought them here against their own will. Whites tell Mexicans “go back to your country” when we were here first. We belong here and so do the Native Americans. Native Americans have also taken a horrible beating in history. This is their land, how dare we ignore them while being here. They suffer living on reservations that are in such poor conditions. They have such a beautiful culture. But like every race, they were labeled as savages, and pushed west by the Europeans. Past presidents made invalid documents to remove Natives from their land. Jackson made the Natives walk the Trail of Tears, where so many died from the heat and the cold, where they wished they could have died but instead suffered by living. They dropped dead and others couldn't even stop, if they did, they’d be killed, too. When some Natives got sick from COVID-19 and asked for medicine the government sent body bags and said that it was a “mistake.” How does that happen? The disrespect shown to them daily is one we can't even begin to understand. Racism is everywhere and will never go away. Asians also went through hardship when they came into this countr y looking for a better life. They h ad to go through the Asian Exclusion Act. In World War II, the Japanese were taken to camps because people were scared that they were spies or traitors, even though no evidence was given to support that. Africans were taken by the Europeans as slaves. This is a history we are all very familiar with. All races were dehumanized by Whites. But, we can't forget — the fact that we were treated horribly by Europeans doesn't make us innocent.

There will always be people who will want power. It's embarrassing to have to ask for equal rights that, technically, are already given to us by the Constitution, but are not respected by the privileged.

Hopefully, these protests will cause change. But, it will be a long and hard process, especially because of how the police have reacted to the protests, and because of how many people are looting (which is only proving the stereotype). The war of racism will never be completely solved. Humans will always be the problem.