George Floyd

Police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Before taking his last breaths, Floyd kept begging, “I can’t breathe.” Chauvin’s actions were tragic and reprehensible but the story of George Floyd’s life does not end there. Floyd is now breathing through the lives of those who are saying, “We have had enough of racism and the unnecessary targeting of Black people at the hands of the police.”

In Floyd’s earlier years, he would say to family and friends, “I’m going to change the world.” Yes, George you are changing the world. Just not the way you thought you would.

The book is 3″ x 3″.

Let Us Breathe

This is an accordion book and custom slip case to honor the lives of 21 people who have experienced unjust brutality at the hands of police.  The dying words of at least three of the people named here were, “I can’t breathe” and so I felt it was fitting to title it, “Let Us Breathe.” So many of these lives ended tragically. This is my way to pay respect and give tribute.

The book measures 50″ in length when fully extended and 5.5′ high.

The Jacob Blake Story

Jacob Blake was walking away from officers when they were trying to arrest him. Officers say he was holding a knife while a witness said he was unarmed. He was reaching into his truck when officers, standing right behind him, shot him in the back seven times. Blake’s three sons were in the car when he was shot. He is now paralyzed from the waist down.

The book pages have seven holes, and the final page poses the question, as if from his son, “Daddy, why did they have to shoot you so many times?” 

The book is covered in newsprint, and painted. It measures 7″L x 5″H.

Breonna Taylor

Police broke down the door to Breonna Taylor’s apartment while she was sleeping and shot 32 times blindly into her apartment – all as a result of one shot in self-defense by her boyfriend because he thought they were intruders. Six of those shots killed Breonna. The police were searching for her former boyfriend who was not in the apartment. She was 26 years old and an Emergency Room technician.

The book measures 4 1/4″ L x 5 3/4″ H.

Rayshard Brooks

Rayshard Brooks fell asleep in a Wendy’s drive-thru and people were having to drive around him. The police came and gave him a sobriety test which he failed. He asked if he could go sleep it off at his sister’s house, which wasn’t far away. Instead, they arrested him. While being handcuffed, he got away and managed to grab one of the officer’s tasers. The officers tased him, he tased back, they tased him again, he tased back. At that point, one of the officers pullled out his gun while Brooks was still running and shot him in the back twice. The epilogue at the end of the book is what Brooks said just a few months before he was shot and killed.

The book measures 5″ L x 4 1/2″ H.

Kendra James

James was in the back seat of the car when police stopped the car at a minor traffic stop at 2:30 in the morning. The driver was arrested because there was a warrant for his arrest. The officer recognized James because there was a warrant for her arrest. She kept saying, “I don’t want to go to jail” and jumped into the driver’s seat. Police first tried to grab her hair, then unsuccessfully shot a Taser, then pointed a gun to her head to try to get her to stop. The police then pointed the gun at her ribs and killed her with one shot. She left two sons behind, a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old.

The toy car measures 7″L x 3″W.

Mr. Daniel Prude

Prude was in the midst of a mental health crisis and was running naked in the street. When police found him, they subdued him and forced his face into the pavement for two minutes, suffocating him.

The book is 3″ x 3″.

Weapon of Love

For this project, I used stacking boxes designed for toddlers that usually have colorful images and pictures.

The 2 quotes on the stacking boxes are from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1963, he was asked, “When will you be satisfied?” His response was, “We can never be satisfied until the Negro is no longer the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” For King, love was always the highest value in the fight for Civil Rights, regardless of the atrocities committed. Thus, in the middle box, around the words “the Negro” I have added his words that the weapon of love is the only weapon to be used in the fight for change. 

   The boxes stand 36″ high when stacked. I covered the stacking boxes with newspaper, then painted over them, but still letting the newspaper show through. There are 10 boxes, representing decades of time.

Jaywalking

Through a leaked body camera video in 2017, a white police officer was found subduing and punching a black man just because he did not cross the street at an intersection.

A white police officer/a black pedestrian/a leaked body camera video/showed Hickman subduing and punching the man/who was accused/of jay walking/Hickman, 31, faces a felony.

The book is 3″ x 3″.