#michaelbrownjr

Sending love to Mike's parents, family, friends and community.

🎨Portrait by @alexanderrichardwilson

Caption and images reposted from the artist: “Mike Brown as photographed after his Graduation from Normandy Highschool.” This has taken me 3 years to finish this very much, simple, emotional and personal portrait of Mike Brown on magazine paper. I am from St. Louis as most of you know, really Florissant which sits in north county next to Ferguson, and, time has happened since the day Mike Brown died at the hands of Missouri law enforcement, politic has…taken the reality of his death and it’s circumstances and turned it into an opinion piece. Often just standing around, I am called to defend blackness, even in just saying “this excludes black and brown poor people.” For myself and other people of color from St. Louis, and those of us raised in the same tax bracket, we know. We knew. And now looking at the continuation of a denial of a racial discrimination issue, this image of him post graduation with his diploma was burning in my mind again. As more black people are murdered, maimed by gun violence and white passivity, I feel very much like I’m still in this moment with Mike, spread out across the redlined states of America. For every thing positive racists will find 11 things negative. For every white passing gesture or action of assimilation, there’s at least 10 gestures to undo any fairness or acknowledgment long form of this oppressive and murder sick national climate. And it’s always been out of the fear of the brown body taking anything but what the oppressor has deemed a fair dividend. I am just worried about this sensation, it just builds.