Project Description & Thank-Yous
It all began with a nine minute and twenty-nine second-long kneel and a desperate cry for his mother. When America saw Minneapolis police department officer Derrick Chauvin murder George Perry Floyd Jr., a new day dawned in America’s reckoning with police violence and systemic racism.
This multimedia project explores the response to Floyd’s murder in Washington, D.C. and the local fight for Black liberation. It uses the grassroots Black liberation organization D.C. Protests to analyze this movement, looking at the emotion, growth, politics and other complicating factors in grassroots organizing.
This project aims to shine light on a movement and a generation's demand for dramatic, systemic change in American policing, while providing insight to how hard it is to bring about this change. It intends to make viewers reflect on how they can do their part to bring about change or understand why this change is necessary.
This project could not have been possible without the co-founders and members of D.C. Protests who collaborated with me on this whole project. You taught me a lot an allowed me to explore this movement. I learned a lot about being a photojournalist and a person.
This project would not have been possible without the help and feedback of my NMPJ classmates - Deja, Anna, Olga, Bonnie, Jasmin, Long, Tierney and Cheyenne. This project would not have been possible without the help and guidance of all my professors at George Washington University and Loyola University New Orleans - Susan Sterner, Jasper Colt, Michelle Frankfurter, Steve Elfers and Leslie Parr.
Many thanks to all the journalists and documentarians I met along the way - Oyoma, Madison, Jazzy, Kian, Shon, Graeme, Jenna, Alyssa, Andrew, Stonie and Chuck. We made it though a lot and I'm grateful for our experiences - good, bad and ugly.
Last, but most certainly not least, thanks to my parents, Stan and Laura. You encouraged me to chase my dreams of being a photographer. Love y'all.
This project has allowed me to further grow my understanding of what white privilege means, and how I can use it to bring about systemic change in America.
I'm grateful for the activists who let me in their spaces, allowing me to learn and share their experiences and feelings. This project has been a key turning point and learning experience in my life. Thank you.