Black Mothers Act Out What Might Be The Future Of Their Sons In The US (28 Pics)
Artist Jon Henry started working on his photography series Stranger Fruit back in 2014. What began as a protest against senseless police killings of black people ended up being a lot of other things, too. Most notably, it's an introspective mirror that allows viewers to examine their own take on the subject.
The people we see in the photos are real mothers, posing in their own environment with their actual sons, reenacting what it must feel like to lose them. The mothers are isolated. Alone. Empty. When the trials are over and the protesters have gone home, when the news cameras are gone and nobody is around anymore, the mother remains on the site forever. There's no peace of mind; the scene will always haunt her.
These mothers understand that this could happen to their family at any moment.
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Untitled #44, Crenshaw Blvd, Ca
this is why we say black lives matter because people need reminding that POC are humans too.
From a rural area in North Minneapolis to a street corner in Jersey City, Henry has visited a lot of places for the series. "I chose these locations because I could find subjects there," the photographer told Bored Panda. "The locations are where the families live and work. I'm looking for areas that describe the city and/or state from a geographical and architectural point of view."
Even though these shots are staged, they radiate authenticity. "The families choose whatever they are comfortable with wearing, so that helps the natural feel," Henry explained. "The comfort level with the family also helps the feel of the images. These aren't actors, they are family that [really] consider these issues."
The photographer wanted the mothers to pose deadpan to appeal more directly to the viewer. And they do. They look directly in our eyes, as if asking, how do we feel and what are we going to do about this. "The viewer can make their own decision on how to respond to the images," Henry concluded.
Untitled #42, Central Los Angeles, Ca
Untitled #5 Parkchester, NY
This is heartbreaking...no mother should have to fear for child's life based on solely the colour of their skin.
Untitled #25 Montgomery, Al
Untitled #17 South Side Chicago, Il
I'm just imagining the people who just don't care and it makes me SMAD!!
Jon Henry, “Untitled 39, Santa Monica, Ca”
Untitled 53, North Little Rock, Ar
I have cried over every one of these pictures. people treasure and love each other.
Untitled #3 Harlem, NY
Untitled #1 Co-Op City, NY
Untitled #21, Berwyn, Il
19unarmed black men killed by police in 2019-5000black men killed by black men in 2019......downvote me all you want this is the truth this is reality ....as a multiracial person i do not fear police nearly when being alone at night than i fear ppl who are like me because chances that i am gonna be killed by police when not commiting a crime or acting insane are miniscule,chances of me being killed by my own ppl for shoes money or even simply for being in the wrong hood are very big.....BLM can only start to matter if we stop killing eachother how we gon demand respect and that our lives matter if we celebrate those rapping about killin our own!
100%
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abby clarke +
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We do not protect and serve each other. However, the police should be there for me to call when I need help but I fear they would kill me. I rather die from a bullet than a racist. I rather die because somebody wanted my shoes, clout in the streets, or to teach me a lesson than to die solely because of my skin color. How many white students have Bern shot at these schools by their own peers but laws and safety measures are being enforces. I guess they should put that energy towards something else and stop wasting time.
India Williams what
India Williams love
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abby clarke what
starfishxxprime easy
starfishxxprime haha
starfishxxprime no
And how many black people were killed by other black people?
This is also why there needs to be a UBI. Most robbery crimes are committed by people who are desperate. Most gangs are successful at recruiting because they offer power, money and respect to people who have lost hope or are scared. It's time to stop ignoring the needs of the people and start giving some relief.
How about accepting that actions bring consequences and stepping up to help ourselves instead of expecting others to do it for us.
I'm going to do much worse than downvote you. I'm going to tell you that no one really cares. Black Lives Matter doesn't mean a thing to most of the people who say it or read it or march for it or anything. And most people don't have a clue what it means. They know what it doesn't mean.
Unarmed? I doubt even that figure is true. But even if so, being unarmed doesn't make you innocent. How many were attacking police?
PERIODT.
Eowyn Kukahiko lol
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I rather be killed by another black person than a racist.
Next time you meet a mother whose child died in senseless street violence, be sure to tell her, "Well, at least he didn't die at the hands of the police!" That will make her feel so much better. <--- Do you see what is wrong with this picture?
PeachPossum haha
Since someone will probably say this is tacky, tasteless... See Michelangelo's famous PIeta. Every mother's sorrow over a dead son. That was the artist's point. The humanity. And that's the point of these photos.
Spot on. Pietà was amongst the first things that came to my mind too. And this series is using art and religious motifs in a very clever way, to make sure we understand it's more than politics - it's a matter of empathy for the fellow human being. It brings out so many points and questions.
Thank you, @Daria B.
Very well said, Leo. Thank you for sharing this information. Several of these images from this series were featured in National Geographic earlier this summer. I found these photographs eerie and haunting (as they were likely intended). I also like how each one of the mothers, daughters, sisters, or wives was staring blankly/sometimes defiantly into the camera.
Very well put, Leo Domitrix. Thanks for saying that.
Don't be a criminal then the chances of you getting shot will be reduced. And that applies to everyone whether black, white or any other race. Not rocket science is it?
If that's directed at me explain what's racist about what I said please. Also wth is an asshat? 😂
Are you...seriously implying... over and over...that all black people are racist? Have you not watched or read the news since the invention of the cellular phone?
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Racist asshat
That was not this photographer's point - the point here is that black mother's fear that their black sons will be killed by white police officers and this is the way they will end up - they are perpetuating the bogeyman idea of the police - no this is just some BS propaganda disguised as some sort of humanity/ sorrow thing you are talking about - had it been introduced as a mother's anguish rather than as a blm statement -t would have been more poignant.
Agree. Especially since BLM is run by Marxists. If you look up Marxism I think you'll find that people are a commodity to communists. Humanity means nothing.. May not like it but that's the truth.
Ken Murray lol
Ken Murray +
Literally framed as mothers’ anguish. You lack empathy, Ken.
Ken Murray haha
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alexpcorn Good response!
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sanchitsawant14 ?
sanchitsawant14 like
sanchitsawant14 easy
This is heart wrenching. I am not black, but I am a mother, and cannot fathom losing my son. But to lose them to this everyday violence is beyond comprehension.
Why no one fears for the daughters? They are also more likely to get arrested than white girls.
Girls are also trafficked for sex and abuse.
It is a shame that so many men (white and black) are being killed on a daily basis not by police but other men. I know this will get down voted because white liberals do NOT really want to raise a single damn finger to stop the 6000 murders of blacks every year. They want to keep us in chains. Keep us dependent on DC millionaires. People will destroy a city because of the 20 + killings by the police. Crickets when it is just another brother shot any other time. Tell me I'm wrong. There will be reckoning for you folks that politicize everything and only promote your agenda. You sacrifice a brother for your politics. You would take out the police know damn well that just gets another brother killed.
Except it’s not “crickets.” People are CONSTANTLY trying to address and combat crime in black communities, and you’d know that if you actually cared and weren’t just trying to derail from what is a completely legitimate separate issue. Just because young men murder each other doesn’t magically make cops murdering people not a problem. If you are so worried about black on black crime, then why do you have nothing to say about criminal justice reform? Extrajudicial killings fall under the umbrella of criminal justice, and attacking the issue of cops killing people with impunity is a big part of addressing the criminal justice system that is also made up of the failed War on Drugs, the school to prison pipeline, the overpolicing of black communities, and the harsher sentencing of black people that exacerbates crime in black communities. If you care about this issue so much, why the f**k are you trying to detract from it? Something tells me you don’t care at all.
People aren't constantly addressing black on black crime. The news doesn't even talk about half of it. And guess what - there is NO solution because poverty and drugs are at the core of the issue. No one cares about fixing that.
Thank you, googlygoogly. You’ve been solid this entire post, and I so appreciate that.
BIG FAX they like to blame police who surely do mistakes but as a mutliracial person myself i do not fear them i fear my own ppl cuz its my own ppl killing young men like me in the thousands and not the police as tupac said "And they say it's the white man I should fear, but it's my own kind doing all the killing here."--Tupac Shakur
Thank you!!
The cops have much to answer for but so do the adults who fail to teach their kids how to behave in society. Lets be real here and expect more from the ones raising kids.
THIS! It seems that "black lives matter" only when taken by a white officer. Where are they when a brother is killed by another? Where are the rioters when gangs shoot up a neighborhood and injure someone who was just sitting on a porch? What about the numerous people still living in extreme poverty, where tiny little kids are starving? To me, their lives matter just as much. Sheer statistics show that any POC is far more likely to be harmed by another black individual than anyone else. It's time we start taking accountability and quit turning a blind eye or trying to blame someone else. But no one wants to hear that
Harleen, it’s literally about officers of every race. If you paid attention to the coverage and the murders you would know that—and you’d also know that most of the murderers are, unfortunately, white officers regardless of that.
@Harleen, that ain't just POC. We all have to take accountability.
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Harleen haha
white LIBERALS? lol- you have been poorly informed.
You're not wrong. The powers that be WANT US TO FIGHT. They WANT US TO STAY POOR. They want this to be a black versus white / black versus the cops issue because that takes the focus away from black on black crime, which is the biggest problem in the community.
It’s authority versus minority.
Logan Jones like
@Logan Jones: I heard that in Chicago, something like 60% of the guns taken off of gang members and young men shooting each other come from Republican states mainly Indiana that have very limited gun regulation. Another note...You might be interesting in this article "I was a civil rights activist in the 1960s. But it’s hard for me to get behind Black Lives Matter." https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/24/i-was-a-civil-rights-activist-in-the-1960s-but-its-hard-for-me-to-get-behind-black-lives-matter/
Marnie +
I am always so shocked when others can't see the value in another life. Just because they don't look like you, doesn't mean they are less than you. They have dreams like you. Why not fight for them too? Black lives matter. Stand with them.
Thank you so much. All of the hateful responses I have seen today have almost brought me to tears, but your response gives me hope.
Thank you Bri and deanna.
deanna woods +
Lives matter, not just black, white or anything. Doesn't adding a colour to the start of that make you the racist?
black lives also commit s**t vtons of crime.
Monkeywrench Productions lol
This circus they play keeps getting more pathetic maybe stop shooting people then police won't arrest you
Briana Taylor was sleeping . . .
Zaen Syed Good response!
Zaen Syed +
Wow?? And this comment even got upvoted... Honestly can bored Panda stick to just lame illustrations or something, the comments section here is filled with TOO much ignorance to deal with.
A lot more empathy shows up for pet rescues than for black boys. I would think we could care about both.
So, can you illuminate us with the Truth, please? Sure the first comment was too much concise, but if you think he is wrong, it would be helpful to have an explanation
Zaen Syed ?
Initially it seems a bit over the top for mother's that haven't lost their sons, but then again this is the very real fear these mother's live with.
I don’t have a son yet but I worry for my brothers every single day. It’s not over the top at all to worry about the people you love.
I don’t know that these mothers *haven’t* lost other sons.
Missing the point of my comment and the article, but sure.
Real fear, but baseless fear.
Hey Marnie, your ignorance is showing.
I am a white mother with a black son who was shot in Seattle and this touched me so deeply im crying but they're thankful tears of joy because my son survived and is thriving and just had his first baby 6 months ago. Please don't ever take this time we have for granted and love on your son today if you can because tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.
Mandy Ginsberg -
Mandy Ginsberg lol
why are you laughing?
97% of people killed by police are male. Why is this blatant sexism not being protested? Why only blacks???
Jarrod Nichols what
look at the percentages of them that were black in comparison to white- and when you do this- make sure you look at the overall population of the black male community versus the white male community
I think its because police are usually male and naturally feel more challenged by males via primal institncs.
I guess is sarcasm.
What would you demand...higher numbers for women?
No. Jarrod made it very clear what his point is. Why would you ask a completely different question as a result?
Pete Cuban good
Pete Cuban love
Pete Cuban lol
I am a black female. I have been racially abused in JUNIOR HIGH. JUNIOR HIGH. Nobody did ANYTHING and I was stuck being tormented through that school until I moved. It is not only sons that have to be scared. It is black daughters as well. I am adopted, and my adoptive parents are white, and my birthmom is black. NOBODY WILL UNDERSTAND THE FEAR OF LOSING A DAUGHTER OR A SON. Stop racial viloence now... or face the prece. Protest after protest after protest.Be lucky you don't have to feel FEAR pulsing through your veins every time you set a foot out of YOUR DOOR. Be lucky. Were scared. Edit: I just needed to rant afer seeing this. I did not mean to attack anybody or anything.
let me ask you something,if you know that 5000 black men are killed by a specific group,and that 19 black men are killed by another group,every year,which one do you think we should protest
Listen. I was born in a hellhole where my cousin was assasinated in front of his family and kids for political reasons. Hearing about you truly privileged people whining about verbal slights and abuse, and something that has less than 0.01% of happening unless you resist arrest, is pathetic. This is for everyone, not only directed to you, but stop being a crying victim and do something constructive for once in your lives.
Lebron James says he takes his life in his hands when he leaves his house cuz he's a black man. Are you kidding me? In America the chance of being an totally innocent person killed by the police is borderline zero. Don't put yourself in that situation to begin with. This narrative that it could happen to anyone at any time by a white person is not at all borne by statistics.
This post isn’t about “verbal slights and abuse.”
No black person need feel much fear their daughter will be killed by police. Police kill white men at twenty times the rate of black women. And the vast majority of people they kill are poor. Teach your daughter how to act if she gets pulled over by the police like my Dad did with me when I got my license (and which all responsible parents do). She'll be fine.
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Marnie you absolute f*****g idiot. STOP saying the same s**t over and over... It won't make it true... Racist birch
And I am white woman and I was bullied cuz of many reasons. I had hard life too. I am not black male. What is your point? That we should make your life easier cuz you black?
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Truly awful. I don't think that until George Floyd was murdered that most white people truly appreciated the depths of racism and racist killings there truly were. It's not to excuse this lack of caring but I can say, with honesty, it truly IS hard to spot racism when it's not directed at you personally. But what has been seen cannot be unseen. I hope none of them face this future in reality. At this point in time we have a REAL chance to change things, if we don't take it then we have failed our children, these children..
Why do you people like you el dee think floyd, a career criminal and addict btw, is some sort of role model and Saint?? Raise the bar fgs
I work with plenty of career criminals and people with substance use disorders, not one of them deserves to be murdered in the street.
Jess Sexton lol
Jess Sexton what
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DSBrannon Good response!
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Shut up
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Very true, he was high and passing out counterfiet money at the time of his death, also he had covid which when they say he couldnt breath was probably partly due to that, if they used the same force on another person white or black, without covid, it probably wouldnt have killed them.
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Yea cos white people don't suffer racism do they?? 😂 Oh and floyd wasn't murdered, fentanyl maybe had something to do with it?
We all saw him get strangled to death....stop it
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Thank you!
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George Floyd was absolutely murdered. There is zero evidence that it was racially motivated. And no evidence that police are killing people due to their race. They kill white men TWENTY times as often as black women. The vast majority of people killed by police are poor. When you adjust for population and poverty, white men are killed at slightly higher rates. (Adjust for population alone, black men are killed at 2.5x the rate of white men. But black men are tragically 2.5x as likely to be poor.) If the police are "targeting" people, they are targeting poor men, not black people.
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Nothing to do with the shitload of fentanyl in his system then?
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I'm talking about lethal force. There is evidence of bias by police when using non-lethal force.
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George Floyd was murdered?? Ridiculous comment
these is the saddest post
Juan Hernandez ?
thats my name
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what is confusing about Juan Hernandez's comment?
sebrrr -
sebrrr Good response!
sebrrr love
dragonwarrior259 Good response!
Gringo Star ?
Gringo Star follower
Yeah it is.
heart breaking to see, heartbreaking because it could happen, has happened, my heart goes out to all the families that have lost anyone and to all these brave mothers to pose like this with your children, I pray that nothing like this happens to all you
Mary Coelho love
Thank you, Mary.
Mary Coelho good
Mary Coelho haha
Mary Coelho haha
This is something that has happened and that could happen again. Young black men and women being killed for no reason except the color of their skin. To those people who say that this happens because of black on black crime, I want you to go to Google and type in the search "lynchings in the US " and then tell me whether black people bring violent death onto ourselves. The color of a person's skin should not be the only motivation to kill them. I have a twelve year old brother and I would hate to have to bury him young because someone chose to kill him over the color of his skin.
My mom taught me that WE ALL BLEED RED. We are all alive and we all deserve the same chances. The end. If you cried about Sandy Hook, but didn't care when they installed metal detectors in inner-city schools thirty years ago? Reality check yourself. That's all I ask. Reality check yourself. .... And we're all accountable for ourselves, and for the role we play in our society, large and small, as voters, as citizens, as voices, as neighbors. Peace.
lynchings havent even nearly killed as many black men or other ''poc'' as black men have killed black men im multiracial and you bring up lynching s**t was done in the 1920s now its 2020 and everyday a latino or black dude kills another for money clout for being seen as gangsta for nothing other than the other guy being in the ''wrong''hood nobody kills us than we do we kill eachother everyday and no one protests it i have not lost a single family member to police but i lost 4 family member to ppl who look like me so gtfo here with lynchings from 1920 s
Looloo, Deanna respectfully asked you to cease your derogatory and racist remarks. In case your minuscule brain can’t categorize a polite request, I’ll say it again: if you’re not qualified to speak on a subject, kindly don’t. If that statement still fails to compute, shut the f**k up unless you know more about the subject than an African American woman in America.
Aragon I didn't make any racist remarks, I merely stated facts. I wasn't nasty in any way but look at your response! Name calling, vile comments from you telling me I'm not qualified to have an opinion and I should shut the fk up!! The lefties in the UK are the same. You can't cope with people disagreeing so you resort to insults!!
How does her race make her singularly qualified in all things race, Aragorn? Does her (alleged) blackness imbue her with mythical powers?
Black in black crime kills thousands more than police violence. For a slogan that says black lives matter, isn't it hypocritical that only a handful of black lives only matter? Or is it because blm demands reparations and you are too lazy or stupid to gain anything without leeching from richer people?