"In The Streets I Hear Freedom Crying"

Featuring photos documenting the fight for immigrant rights, “In The Streets I Hear Freedom Crying” shines a light on one of the largest human rights crises currently plaguing The United States.

Featuring photographs documenting the fight for immigrant rights, “In The Streets I Hear Freedom Crying” shines a light on one of the largest human rights crises currently plaguing The United States. 

When individuals cross our border, we do not know the stories they are leaving behind or the stories they are going to write in America, and we do not know whose lives they may impact or change along the way. It may be their own, their children’s, their community’s, the country’s, or an individual’s. Whatever the next chapter of their story entails, they have just as much right to craft it on US soil as those of us born here. Some choose to come here for better opportunities, to be part of American communities, others come out of necessity. So many of them are fleeing gangs, cartels, terrorists, war, famine, and genocide. And they deserve to live a life free of the extreme pain and suffering put upon them solely because of the country they were born in or currently inhabit. Regardless of the reason for their migration, they deserve to be treated as our neighbors, seen and heard for who they are, and given the respect and dignity they deserve.

And that is what this work is about. It is about bringing awareness to the horrible injustices immigrants are facing. Not only those here “illegally”, but those here legally, and those in the middle of the immigration process. This work is about highlighting their resilience, and how hard they will fight for their own sense of self worth and dignity, and their right to live in the Country they’ve come to call home. It is about making sure their sacrifices are not forgotten, and stories not erased.

As a kid growing up in the 90’s we celebrated America for the melting pot it is, and always has been. Somewhere along the way that has gotten lost, and people have forgotten that we are a nation built on immigration. I think it’s time we get back to celebrating the melding of cultures that has made America the country it is, and stop erasing the history and values our country was founded upon.