Unfair Silence

BY ANDREA BUSTAMANTE
What I made is pretty obvious if you’re just looking at it physically. It’s an African-American woman’s face with half of her screaming in almost pain and the other side serious and almost complacent. Her kinky hair is big and nappy, beautiful and glorious holding onto first names, last names, ages, and then years. They represent people who have died at the hands of police unfairly, all of color.
In the background a collage of lyrics of “41 Shots” by Bruce Springsteen, explaining the dilemma of a mother telling her child be careful around police and not to provoke them. I made this with ink, color pencils, black permanent marker, glue, and cardboard.
My influence in making this piece was the police brutality in people of color, specifically African-American people. It has been an ongoing struggle against bias, oppression, discrimination, prejudice, and racism for people of color. An ongoing struggle, that not even authority can surpass at times.
I made this because I want people to see somewhat of the perspective of people of color and how much it pains us that many stay silent against this topic. Some fear the police, some hate the police, some are anxious around police, and these feelings aren’t that often expressed correctly. Those that are supposed to protect us often do not and people need to be aware of this.