The Black Aesthetic Project
3 min readNov 25, 2014
Ferguson, USA
This is a visual story about police brutality and young black males.
According to Darren Wilson, Mike Brown looked like a “demon” in the moments leading up to his murder. When I look at this picture, I see a human.
Mike Brown met his unfortunate fate because he fit the description. Young. Black. Male. I imagine my brother’s face plastered across the front page of CNN. Or my best friend. I see myself next to the word “DEAD” in bold letters.
Do we still ask whether Mookie did the right thing by throwing that trash can through Sal’s window after the death of Radio Raheem?
Or are you just shocked to realize that Ferguson, USA is not a movie?
This is America: The Land of the Free
Where black lives don’t matter.
Where justice is reserved for those with weapons.
I’m lucky my mother never let me play with airsoft guns. That would’ve given the police license to kill me. I’m even scared now to wear my favorite hoodie because they’ll think I’m a thug.
Shit, Tamir Rice was 12 years old. We could all be targets.
How can we live like this?
How will we survive them?
We cannot resurrect these black lives who were unfairly stripped of all potential.
But we can fight for their images to live on forever. We owe it to them, we owe it to each other, we owe it to ourselves.
#BlackLivesMatter
Write a Response below. (Here’s how.)
