this is america
Throughout Donald Trump's presidency, I noticed that when people spoke of the state of America, there were two different stories being told. One story was of prosperity, freedom, and success; the other was of hopelessness, anger, and inequality. Privilege vs. struggle. Certainty vs. instability. Power vs. fear. This photo essay is a visual comparison of these two differing realities as I saw them, and continue to see them, in my own communities.
A local high school student shouts praises during a prayer led by a pastor at a Black Lives Matter protest in Greensboro, North Carolina on June 7, 2020. She later stood in front of the crowd and recited two spoken word pieces about being Black in America.
"One America is beautiful situations. In this America, millions of people have the milk of prosperity and the honey of equality flowing before them. But there is another America, and this other America has a daily ugliness about it that transforms ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair."
-Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)
Ashley Wines, right, holds her son Huxley Klimas as she leaves the stables at the Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 2, 2019. The Last Chance Corral is a ranch that rehabilitates ponies and sells horses to ranches across the United States.
An almost-empty fridge in an empty Ohio University building on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. Food insecurity in the United States was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of rising unemployment and poverty rates. According to Feeding America, certain racial and ethnic groups experience food insecurity at greater rates when compared to their white counterparts. This is a direct result of structural racism and discrimination, which affects not only food insecurity, but also the underlying factors that lead to it.
45th President of the United States Donald Trump gives a speech at the reelection rally he hosted in Circleville, Ohio on Oct. 24, 2020.
Korean War veteran Larry Wiest poses for a portrait at the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight’s Second Parade of Honor on Sunday, May 23, 2021.
Akari Wilder steps outside of his new home on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Wilder, who identifies as a transgender man, grew up in the foster system, saying that he often had to be his own source of light and joy during that time of his life. This is Wilder's first living space that he has owned by himself. It is a major accomplishment for him.