What it means to document the everyday reality of black America

When living is a protest — Photographer Ruddy Roye tells stories of invisibility – blending despair with signs of hope – while reflecting a little piece of himself in every image.

This article appears in Huck 57 – The Documentary Photo Special IV.

The act of staying alive is a protest. If you have to survive in a neighbourhood where there are drugs and crime, for me that is a protest.

When a mother says to her child that he can’t play out on the street after a certain hour because she’s expecting the boys to be coming out, that’s a protest.

The huge marches in Ferguson or Manhattan are a visible form of protest, but I’m looking at it in a more abstract way. For me, activism is a way of life.

"Why was he shot so many times? asks 19-year-old Dante Newsome, reflecting on the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

“Why was he shot so many times? asks 19-year-old Dante Newsome, reflecting on the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.


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