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Expressions of Solidarity Against Racial Injustice: A Digital Collection

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"The #WEAREONETEAM campaign’s mission and goal is to raise money for various credible and long term organizations that have the infrastructure to support and initiate the change we need in our society to end all forms and types of oppression. The #WEAREONETEAM campaign is not just about racial injustice. It is not just about police brutality. It is about the various forms of oppression that many disenfranchised groups of people endure on a daily basis. We join forces to end that oppression and as lofty a goal that may be, we join forces nonetheless. WHY? Because we are not free until the next oppressed individual is free themselves. Thus, our work here has not come anywhere close to an end but rather a fierce and motivating beginning!!! We MUST come together to fight injustice oppression of all individuals in all RACES, GENDERS, SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS, and CREEDS, to end police brutality and all other forms of explicit and implicit racial prejudice and bias that kill innocent BLACK AND BROWN individuals. We will not stop and we will not be satisfied until we are able to see true and legitimate reform in our criminal justice system and societal fabric as a whole!!"
The ironic juxtaposition of the Easton police memorial and Civil War soldiers memorial with Black Lives Matter protesters illustrates some of the racial conflicts and tensions in American history and the different perspectives of different racial groups on American society. The demonstration was peaceful, most police officers are decent public servants, and Eastonians died fighting against slavery in the 1860s; yet racism remains deeply rooted and resistant to uprooting by our tools of social change.
My voice should not be focused upon during this time and this work's minimalist quality is a reflection of that intent. The existence of this watercolor painting is meant to affirm the horrendous injustices and utterly unconscionable social and economic inequities that have been perpetuated for centuries against the working class while disproportionately affecting people of color. Their unique vibrancy, represented by the individuals in the upper left, has been excruciatingly trampled upon; their value has and continues to be relentlessly extracted to turn the cogs of capital—condensed into the green points below—as the individuals themselves slowly fade into the void of history.
"An explanation of imagery : This piece uses the symbolic meaning within the flag to underscore what this time of protest, resistance to oppression, as well as resistance to change stirs inside of me: A black man, and a veteran. As a black man I have no choice but to wear my skin everyday, but as a military service member I was a volunteer. I chose to serve and wear my uniform every day of my enlistments. It was my choice to protect the country within which I thought I was living; one with a dark past that had found a path to light and become a leader in the rehabilitation of countries founded in injustice. I feel so much gratitude for all of the voices (minority and majority alike) for speaking up; for holding the nose of the government in the mess that we have made of the words equality and justice. I also feel more hopeless than ever. Hope seems foolish because it is only the disempowered majority (of all races) boldly speaking in favor of equality and justice, while the empowered minority clings to power and authority through legislation and inequitable enforcement of its laws. Many people know that the red bars our American flag is for valor and hardiness, and to some represents the blood shed to establish our nation. The white symbolizes purity and innocence, a land yet uncorrupted as the lands were from where immigrants fled in search of a better life here in the United States. The blue, however, is often a forgotten mystery, or worse yet mis-attributed to be the blue of the sky. The blue however, is perhaps the most important color of all; the blue field represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice. In the work, the words written inside the red bars require a boldness to acknowledge. They take courage to speak aloud. They require the valor, on which this country was founded, to evolve from being a message, to becoming policies, and ultimately change social idealism into a real national community. The white stripes no longer span the flag smooth, clean and uninterrupted. They are swirled with shadows and off white shapes. Our country has lost the purity and innocence of the idealism that launched a revolution. At best our innocence has become a willful ignorance led by arrogance, and is corrupted by the remaining echoes of Manifest Destiny. The blue is faded and drawn of color in such a way that it only encompasses most of the stars of white. The colored stars and few white stars (now representing the diversity of people in America) have had their Justice stipped away; they persevere without justice. Their color and culture is eroded; bleeding into a field of white, desperately trying to assimilate into a system that only evolves to shore-up support for status-quo."
“The Battle of Ball’s Bluff,” is a cyanotype depicting the part of the Potomac River where Union forces crossed to face Confederate soldiers in one of the many Civil War battles that was fought in Virginia. The work emphasizes the weighted history Virginia has – as it is the state where the most Civil War battles occurred and its current capital was once the capital of the Confederacy. The work directs conversation in how to address this dark and stained history and how the past parallels events happening today. Russell also uses the poem “The Dreamer” written by an anonymous poet, emphasizing that these difficult discussions could lead to significant reform and positive change.
This work was inspired by Trump declaring that Antifa is a terrorist organization. "Antifa" is not an organization, but merely the name for the movement against fascism. Essentially, this means Trump says he is a fascist, and this aligns perfectly with how he has responded to Black Lives Matter protests in Portland. After seeing an image of Captain America punching a Nazi, I decided to use the classic pop-art format to make a comparison between Trump and some quintessential fascists - Hitler and Mussolini. For the remaining square, I was going to do a generic police officer to represent ongoing police brutality, riot police, and Trump's federal militia which continues to target Portland. After the outcome of the Breonna Taylor case, I decided to make this square a representation of Brett Hankison, one of the officers responsible for Breonna's murder.