The photographs bear witness to the uncomfortable truths of the darkness in the heart of our country and the lives of people lost because of race and class: In 2018, a teacher was killed by a Richmond police officer while he was having a mental health emergency. Once again it was an unrecognized or ineffective response to a mental health or behavioral emergency. It is horrific how many lives have been lost in these events in our nation, how many families and friends stay home and wait and grieve never to hear from them again, and the losses multiply.The real tragedy is that no one will ever see what the victims of police brutality might have accomplished with their lives, and what their children would have grown up to be.
George Floyd, whose death at the hands of the police galvanized the Black Live Matter and Racial Justice movement, was memorialized at what was to become acclaimed as the most influential form of American protest art since World War II, at the Monument of Robert E Lee.
From a vantage point high above the statue I always wondered "what if..." What if individuals with emotional or behavioral problems were able to get support and help with their problems, what if someone listened to them and understood their cries for help, and what if we could replace action with listening and talking." What if all those who had lost their lives could have lived?
George Floyd was memorialized in Richmond. Prayers and chants were offered by his family to wish him well on his final transition.
His cousin is holding his photograph as she remembers him and reflects.
The deteriorating holographic projection is my metaphor for the final journey of George Floyd and a prayer for social justice, the end of systemic racial discrimination and the hope for peace.
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