Titus Brooks Heagins: Racism is a Persistent Infection
“Poor Black people have lived, for decades, with plexiglass barriers between them and merchants who take money from their communities . We shop in stores that have always had shortages of healthy and good foods. Our stores are always filled with unhealthy choices, like chips, high fructose soft drinks, candy, loose cigarettes, and plenty of alcohol. We have inhabited food deserts all our lives. In so many neighborhoods the closest thing we see to vegetables are the few blades of grass we walk on. Oh, I just remembered there “ain’t no grass” in the ghetto, just the weeds growing between the cracks in the sidewalks. Those cracks are emblematic of racial equality in our country. In America, your zip code is more important than your genetic code in determining your health. Boarded up buildings are the main facade in poor neighborhoods. One can usually recognize poor black communities by the murals of MLK on walls of abandoned buildings. We know what it’s like to lose our jobs, most often through no fault of our own. And when that happens to white people, we hope they now understand what it’s like to ask for food assistance and wonder where the rent money will come from until they have another job. What white people have suffered during the two months of this pandemic is what we have suffered for decades, no centuries, in America. This is what America has meant to us, over-policing, suffering, and misery.”
“Racism is a persistent infection in the soul of America. No one wants to tackle or confront this malignancy that affects everyone. Yes, everyone. The same issues take the lives of black people as took them in 1619. There have been opportunities to end the less than human treatment of Blacks in America; but each time we reach that precipice, we back away and choose the path of least resistance, and thereby fall back into a hole, a trap that captures and holds hostage our humanity and destroys our Nation bit by bit. In this time, many “liberals” conclude that we have lost our moral authority. But I say this Nation, whose flag we salute, never had moral authority but for a few fleeting moments. I have begun to question whether we have the right to continue as a species on this blue planet. There are many more loving and kind species living in harmony, not fighting, not seeking to destroy each other. Remember George Floyd.”
“Over 1,100 people are killed yearly by police. Protesters are seeking better relations between police and the African American communities. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that only 7% of complaints against police receive disciplinary actions. That’s 93% that go unaddressed. While the death of George Floyd was the tipping point for black communities, the protests are about the differences in treatment by police between white communities and African American communities.”
“Video recordings have forced America to once again face its racist structures. Bias in policing is more than a few bad apples. There is a culture of force, an implicit agreement as to who receives what levels of policing, and an understanding that all in blue will support those accused of using excessive force. The police, however, are only a small piece of the larger puzzle of the history of racism in America — a history that most whites don’t know.”
“Across social media, creative institutions, and their leaders separately, have and are denouncing events of police brutality against African Americans. I applaud you for your empathy and courage. Even conservative George Will and I are in agreement about the racial discourse in America. But I know this will all go away, these demonstrations will eventually subside in America. When they do African Americans will continue to be killed by police, and have reason to fear for our lives wherever we are, in spaces both public and private. African Americans have always been the proverbial “canary in the mineshaft” when notions of democracy, justice, and fairness slide into the abyss of greed, privilege, and the ordained right of white Americans. But the result of racial disparities that saddled a community already in distress with a disproportionate number of deaths was unconscionable . The Open Up movements will be the cause of many more deaths of black and brown people than whites. This appears intentional, as Confederate flags and Trump supporters abound at these rallies. Blacks are 13% of the population, but suffer 25% of deaths from Covid 19. Add to that an intentional murder of George Floyd recorded and this was too much to bear. This system is rigged against people of color. Whether we are killed by extrajudicial acts of police, or the lack of healthcare, or the absence of living wage employment...we still die because of racism. We’ve seen Rodney King, we’ve seen Tamir Rice, and we’ve seen Freddie Grey....and now we’re at George Floyd. Nothing meaningful happened after mass protests . Maybe I’m wrong, that now white people will see the error of their ways, and realize that those who look like me are human, are worthy of dreams that need to be reached, that we have contributed and have more to contribute to this experiment in democracy.”
“Yesterday, Saturday, I began travel to Raeford NC to photograph services for George Floyd. But 500 feet from the turn south I headed north to Washington then south to Richmond. I wanted to witness H Street painted with BLM before traffic or rain wore it away. What I found and experienced were so many young people, Black, Native, White, Latino, and Asian, standing together protesting, saying in unison “Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name, and I Can’t Breath!” I needed to witness that hope. Perhaps it’s not too late?”
Titus Brooks Heagins is a photographer who currently lives and works in Durham, NC. He has traveled extensively throughout North Carolina, the southwestern United States, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Caribbean, and China to produce a diverse body of work. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Photography from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught photography and art history courses at numerous colleges and universities, including the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the Durham Arts Council; and the Center for Documentary Studies, Durham.
Heagins is adept at capturing the full emotional and cultural spectrum of diverse communities, with a photographic practice rooted in and dedicated to the expressive documentary tradition. His works are in many private and public collections, including the North Carolina Museum of Art; Anacostia Museum of African American Art and History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Lehigh University Museum of Art, Bethlehem, PA; North Carolina Central University Museum of Art, Durham, NC; Casa de Africa, Havana, Cuba.