This is the frame in which the world saw its first canonical black storm trooper. It is a frame from the teaser trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. A big Star Wars movie had not been made in years, and a ton of people were deftly excited to see a new trailer. But the appearance of John Boyega (who plays Finn), a black man, in a storm trooper…[Read more]

This photo belongs to Chameleon Horse Art & Design, and captures the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline in a striking way. It looks like a child’s drawing, with the graph paper, the cartoon illustrations, and the imaginative way it captures the conflict at Standing Rock. The picture becomes a child’s viewpoint of the conflict, reminding…[Read more]

I found this photo while trying to find more info on the Flint River. The article that harbors this photo talks about how long the Flint River is (142 miles), and that most of it is clean for drinking and ecosystems. While it is nice to know that much of the Flint River is safe, this article illuminates the direct environmental racism along the…[Read more]

This is a photo of the South Bronx taken during the “Decade of Fire.” During the 1970s, fires swept through much of the South Bronx, apparently damaging or destroying 80% of homes. Support from the city, state, and federal government was notoriously lacking. At times, Black and Puerto Rican residents were blamed for the fires, when in reality it…[Read more]

Who do you think lives in this house? Any of these houses? What is the first picture that comes into your head? Is it a family? What do they look like? Why do you think that way? Does this look like a “white person house”? If so, why? What does it even mean for a house to look like it belongs to a certain race, people, ethnicity, class? Shouldn’t…[Read more]

This is a photo from 1963 of a supporter of George Wallace, then the governor of Alabama. This photo struck me when I first saw it because the man’s face is so clear. His face is at the center of the picture, and he is looking at the camera. The sign tells us his is the face of racism, of segregation, of violence and oppression. But he looks like…[Read more]

Content Warning: Picture shows American Bison skulls. This is a picture from 1870 and shows the extreme extent to which American Bison herds were exterminated. Their number was over 50 million in America before settler colonialists arrived and began hunting them for goods and sport. Their number sank to below 500 at one point. Such wanton…[Read more]