Page 126 - Flaunt 171 - Summer of Our Discontent - St-John

“There are defining moments in history that ask of every- one: ‘which side are you on?’ The current uprising against cen- turies-long racism and oppression has clarified the line between those who will show up and fight for the dismantling of systemic racism and those who seek to uphold it.
I have prints available at bittonphoto.com with all proceeds donated to #BlackLivesMatter-related charities.”
Bil Brown is a photographer and cinematographer, writer and poet. A frequent contributor to FLAUNT, Bil has been docu- menting the rise of the protests since 2016’s election in both his documentary and editorial work and trying to make sense of these divisive times through consciousness, action, and awareness.
Kemal Cilengir is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of @streetwisela magazine. “I document Los Angeles. I walk the street religiously trying to expose every alley, avenue, and crack the sidewalks have to offer.”
“The last few weeks I witnessed events I hope I never have to see again. I dodged rubber bullets, was tear gassed, got hit in the head with a metal trash can and felt like I was in a war. I saw hun- dreds of peaceful protesters were pelted left and right, all while looters a few blocks away were allowed to go on looting for hours on end. I can honestly say that the police were the aggressors in almost all of these scenarios. Since the news did not do a good job of distinguishing between the two groups, there are peaceful protesters and looters. Looters took advantage of the peaceful pro- testers with their own agenda. Over the last week and a half the peaceful protests throughout Los Angeles and across the country have been beautiful. The protesting is working as proposals to cut funding and dismantle police departments were announced, but we can’t stop! Let’s turn the tens of thousands that came out over the weekend into a million by this weekend. We have momentum and with each passing day let’s keep building on that.”
126
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BIL BROWN