In June 2018, filmmaker and activist Paola Mendoza and photographer Kisha Bari worked together to produce the "I AM A CHILD" photo project in response to Trump's zero-tolerance policy on the border, which forced children to be separated from their parents. Taking photos on the steps of New York's Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, the portraits were a homage to the iconic Ernest Withers' "I Am A Man" image from the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis. The project went viral and is now showing at The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. As a second chapter to this project, the two were invited to collaborate with The National Civil Rights Museum and Families Belong Together to produce another series of images on the very spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel and join children and men with "I Am A Man" and "I Am A Child" signs to make a statement about the injustices still plaguing the most vulnerable communities in our society.
Launching on ELLE.com, this series is meant to highlight the Trump administration's attempts to modify the Flores Settlement, which limits the amount of time children can be kept in detention in the United States, and to reiterate that there are children in the caravan of thousands of asylum seekers headed to the U.S. border right now. Below, Mendoza explains the inspiration behind the project, which she says was the "honor of my life."
Since Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States, the dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants has been a constant national conversation. He has used his bully pulpit to create a culture of hate, disgust, and disregard for the lives of immigrants. He has used his influence not to bring the country together, but rather, he has used his voice to allow the hatred of immigrants to become a normal part of our discourse.
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The most recent manifestation of this hate was the horrific murder of 11 Jewish congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue. The alleged murderer targeted this synagogue because he believed it was connected to HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), which helps refugees rebuild their lives. The alleged murderer seems to have been motivated by his hatred of Jews as well as his hatred of refugees. In his last post on his Gab account, he allegedly accused HIAS of bringing "invaders in that kill our people."
Only two days after the massacre, Trump tweeted, referring to the caravan, "This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!" Trump used the same words as a mass murderer to refer to refugees, many of them women and children, that are walking thousands of miles in order to flee unimaginable violence and hunger. He used his words to once again fan the flames of hate.
History is a sobering reminder that this type of hatred has lived inside this country for centuries: from the genocide of Native Americans, to the terrors of slavery, to the injustices of Jim Crow, to the misery of the Japanese internment camps, hatred has thrived here. But what has endured through this appalling hatred and what will always endure is love.
Love is what sustained mothers during slavery. It's love that gave the freedom riders the bravery to face the rage of white supremacy. Love inspired farmworkers in California to strike against the men that practically owned them. And it's love that has bound mothers and fathers to their children when the United States government kidnapped them in the middle of the night.
We are in a tornado of hate. The winds of racism and sexism lash at our backs. But we must never doubt when we hold fast to love, dig deep into our beloved community and do the hard work to make this world more equitable, we will prevail. We must prevail.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
The entire "I AM A CHILD" project can be seen at iamachild.us.
Paola Mendoza is an accomplished film director, activist and author. A co-founder of The Women’s March, she served as its Artistic Director and co-authored the New York Times bestseller Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard around the World. Mendoza is a critically acclaimed film director whose films have premiered at the most prestigious film festivals around the world. Her films have continually tackled the effects of poverty and immigration on women and children in the United States. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and is a Tribeca All Access, Film Independent and Independent Film Week fellow. She is a co-founder of The Soze Agency and has been the creative director for campaigns fighting for immigration reform, criminal justice reform, incarcerated mother’s and women’s rights. She is a co-founder and Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed, Resistance Revival Chorus.
