Black Lives Still Fighting & Matter

original digitized Kodak slide from 1965

found on the side of the road

*please do not distribute this photograph*

Black Lives Still Fighting

digital collage

Laura Kathrein

This media remix takes a photograph from March 1965 of children standing on the side of the street waving and cheering on the protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The youthfulness of this photograph gives you hope that these children will grow up in a world where they are treated fairly and equally. However we know that is not the case and thus I’ve remixed this photograph to show a few of the young black men who have lost their lives to police brutality or racial profiling in the last couple years. I found the photographs that depicted the victims as youthful to match the rest of the children in the crowd. From left to right the men include, Eric Garner (born 5 years after the Selma to Montgomery March), Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Grey, and Trayvon Martin (holding the flag). In the background you will also find a remix of protest signs to bring this image into present day. These include “Is my son next?” and “Black Lives Matter.”

I call this remix Black Lives Still Fighting because in 51 years we have not made much social progress as a country to embrace the black man and woman as equal and important to American culture. Perhaps in another 51 years we will see Dr. King’s idea for America come true, however for now Black Lives Are Still Fighting and there are those of us have and will always join in that fight.