Dying Disproportionally: COVID-19 and the Black & Latino Community
Ft. My 2018 Digital Documentary Midterm with Sounds from Kendrick Lamar’s HiiiiPOWER
“And I want everybody to view my autopsy
So you can see exactly where the government had shot me
No conspiracy my fate is inevitable”
— Hiii POWER by Kendrick Lamar
“My issue wasn’t televised and you ain’t gotta tell the wise
How to stay on beat because our life’s an instrumental
This is physical and mental, I won’t sugar coat it
You’ll die from Diabetes if these other niggas wrote it
And everything on TV just a figment of imagination
I don’t want a plastic nation”“Everyday we fight the system just to make our way
We’ve been down for too long, but that’s all right
We was built to be strong, ’cause it’s our life, na-na-nah
Everyday we fight the system (Fight the system)
(Never liked the system)
We’ve been down for too long, but that’s all right, na-na-nah”— HiiiPOWER by Kendrick Lamar
In 2018, I was part of a Digital Documentary Photography class at Columbia (#DDP) taught by Kai McBride.
One day he assigned our midterm: choose a song & corresponding images.
The video above, “HiiiiPower — 2020” is the exact slideshow I submitted as my midterm for Kai’s course my Senior spring. I stumbled on the video file two days ago when going through my hard drive.
What a great relic. What an awesome cultural artifact. What a heavy, present reminder of the toll, the density, and the sheer volume of emotions that come with being Black… Black in America.
Being Black in America is more than a struggle. It is more than oppression. Being Black in America extends past the pain of slavery: It is a trauma we bear for a lifetime. Being Black in America is like having an ugly wound that sporadically pains you: one day you’re fine just going on about your life, trying to be better, do better, and get to a better level and the next day you're hunched over barfing — the pain so severe your head throbs, your dry throat aches, your eyes twitch, and your mind hovers on the thought of dying more than once. You’re low, you’re a living corpse, you’re in the sunken place.
Oh. Oh Oh OH OHHHHH. The pain and the joy and the pride of being Black in America.
I wanted to resurface this thing that I made because I’ve been thinking about community more and more. I’ve been thinking about how to engage and empower the community; how to activate and comfort the community; how to help and heal the community. I’ve been thinking about the different communities I’ve been a part of. I’ve been thinking about how communities can gather and be the change.
Outside of writing our names down, outside of filling forms, how can the community engage in protest when we are all at home segmented, secluded, and separated?
But what exactly do we need to protest?
What exactly are we saying no to?
Who are we rebelling? Who are we calling out?
As I occasionally tap into the news each evening… I say tap in because I think sometimes one must opp out of content that will disrupt and depress one’s mental wellness…
… As I watch the news and see the death toll rise for Black & Latino people, I am not only at a loss in terms of what to do. My soul weeps and my mind reverberates in numbness.
How did we get here?
“And I want everybody to view my autopsy
So you can see exactly where the government had shot me
No conspiracy my fate is inevitable”
Are our autopsies pre-determined?
Is our Fate inevitable?
What do we want to do?
This is the second installment of my #60DayWritingChallenge
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Thanks so much for reading my friend. I really, truly, absolutely appreciate it ❤
