White Male American
-W.M.A., VS.
Everything in the news lately has been weighing heavily on my mind… it seems like every single day I hear of some senseless tragedy… A life that was lost and for little more than resisting. Then I started thinking about how often I hear “all lives matter” from otherwise rational and loving people. It got me thinking about how the systematic racism in this country is so deep seeded that people don’t even see how they’re perpetuating it by saying something like “all lives matter” in response to someone saying “black lives matter”. It makes me sad… Of course every single life matters… But black lives are the ones that seem to be undervalued in this country….no one is questioning whether or not my life matters. It hurts my heart… And that day in the streets of New York seeing all of the NYPD cars there I was just inspired….and the song WMA was on a loop in my mind. Isn’t it sad that all these years later that song is as relevant as it has ever been? Thank you so much for capturing the somber, contemplative feeling I was experiencing standing in the streets of New York while you were taking my fan portrait. It’s so important.
-Trisha Serrano, Pearl Jam Fan
