Walk in the Light: A Sermon / Mediation in memory of Mamie Till-Bradley and in honor of Darnella Frazier

Genesis 1:1-5

¹ In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 

² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 

³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

⁴ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 

Lets title this: Walk in the Light

This text is one my favorite text in the Bible

It is one my favorite text because I am a photographer and photography is all about light 

Photo means light

Photography literally  means writing with light 

The first thing God does is God writes with light

God separates light from darkness

God does this because darkness covered the face of the earth 

God knew that Adam and Eve couldn’t do their job if they didn’t have some light

See they couldn’t walk in darkness

The old song writer said…walk in the light, beautiful light

Come where the dew drops of mercy shine bright

Shine all around us by day and by night Jesus the light of the world

See God has a track record of bringing light into dark places

When the Israelites left Egypt God gave them a pillar of by day and fire by night so they could walk in the light

The Lord said through the Prophet Isaiah 

⁶ I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, 

I have taken you by the hand and kept you; 

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations, 

⁷ to open the eyes that are blind, 

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, 

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Jesus said..in John 8:12

¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. 

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

See light, brings life and it enables us to see through the darkness

Light exposes what is done in the dark by shinning on it

To put it another way…

Light helps us see what we don’t see

When you study light as portrayed in the scripture..what you find is that…

Light represent the love of God

Light represent the justice of God

Light represents the righteousness of God

Light represents the power of God

Light represents the presence of God 

Light represents the way of God

Light represents the path of God 

Walk in the light

See when we walk in the light we see where God wants to take us

When we walk in the light we see what evil does not want us to see

When we walk in the light we shed light on injustice while simultaneously calling out to justice

When we walk in the light we see what God is doing

When we walk in the light we see what God is doing in the world in liberative ways

When we walk in the light we see evil, we expose it, we confront it and we cast it out

In the1960s America choose to walk in the light

It was photography that shed the light on evil so that we could see

Leigh Raiford is clear in her book: Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle 

 

She convincingly argues that it was photography that changed the world and made us see the struggle

The images of Bull Connors Dogs in Birmingham, Alabama

The images of a bombed out  16th Street Baptist Church

The images of water hoses released on peaceful protestors

The images of peaceful marchers being attacked by police at the foot of the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama. 

The images of Emmet Till the teenage boy who was murdered on August 28, 1955 in Money, Mississippi

Emmet Till  murdered by two white men allegedly because he had been to friendly to a white woman 

Emmett Till had been sent to Money Mississippi from Chicago by his mother Mrs. Mamie Till for summer vacation 

They wanted to have his funeral in Money Mississippi but his mother did the unthinkable

She said, no, 

His mother, said, send his body back to Chicago and instead of grieving privately as any mother would naturally want to do

Mrs. Mamie Till Bradley grieved publicly and invited the world to grieve with her

Mrs. Till called on them to send her  sons body back to Chicago 

she said I want the world to see what they did to my boy

Mrs. Till secured the services of the Jet Magazine photographer David Jackson 

And in September of 1955 her sons beaten and battered body was returned to Chicago and David Jackson was their to take pictures 

The images of this teenage boys body and  the images of the open casket funeral flooded news outlets around the world

And as a result of these images, the world had to see what they hadn’t seen or choose to ignore

See what the images did, was they made the world see what 

African Americans had been experiencing for years

The images shed light in darkness

The images made the world stop and see..they saw the evil that was alive and well in our world

The world couldn’t turn away from these image 

As result of making the world look at these images, and the evil they exposed,  the modern Civil Rights Movement was born 

When the world saw what was done to Mamie Till’s  boy, millions of dollars poured in to Civil Rights Organizations 

And to top it all off on December 1, 1955  Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama

It is reported that Mrs. Parks said, I couldn’t get up out of my seat because I couldn’t get the picture of that boy out of my mind

In the 1960s We saw the light 

And as children of God we are to see the light, shine the light and testify to the light

In John 1:6-12 the writer penned these words:

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 

⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 

⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 

⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 

¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 

¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 

We are the children of God

As children of God I believe we are called to testify to the light

We are called to bring light into dark places

We are called to make light shine on that evil that has hidden 

We are called to shine shine light in dark places, where the lights off and where they don’t allow cameras

We are called to turn the light on

We are called to turn the cameras on and let the light shine in the darkness so that evil will be exposed

It was Darnella Frazier a 17 year old teenager who was the light in Minneapolis Minnesota 

As officer David Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for over eight minutes

Darnella Frazier took her cell phone out, cut on her camera and she brought  the light

We were horrified by the evil that we saw and the world is reacting because they had to see

We only saw, what African Americans have been experiencing for years, because Darnella Frazier was willing to walk in the light

I think that’s all God expects of us 

I think that is all God expects of us

To walk in the light

The beautiful light

Some where the dew drops of mercy shine bright

Shine all around us by day and by night Jesus the light of world

My sisters and brothers go and walk in the light 

Bring light into dark places that we might see 

So that we might act and make this world a more just place

Walk in the light!

Don’t Forget to Remember: Museum to Movement

“Atlanta’s most notable tradition is that we have no traditions, or at least that we are not bound by traditions and reverence for the past in the way that some other communities, especially in the South have been.  Like Rhett and Scarlett, we don’t look back.  Instead we look forward to the future with courage and confidence and one eye on the cash register.  We’ll try anything once, and if it works, we’ll keep it until something better comes along.”

Clifford Kuhn

Living Atlanta: An Oral History of the City, 1914 - 1948

I continue to document the transformation of Sweet Auburn Avenue.  It is my hope that my work will do what William Stott says good documentary work does.  William Stott said, “Social documentary work can depict how a situation feels and not just how it looks; it can convey factual information about the world compelling by delivering it in emotionally charged ways, harnessing compassion and sentimentality for persuasive ends.  It can sensitize our intellect and education our emotions.”[1] Stott gives us the potential of good documentary work.  The work has the potential to do more than document what is happening in a factual way but rather it has an emotional component. It moves those who engage the story to a point of connection.  I invite you to enter this story, Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter.  This week I want to introduce you to, two of the many people who have a stake in the past, present and future of Sweet Auburn. Last week I had the privilege of interviewing two people from two different sides of the street, Mr. Dan Moore of the Apex Museum and Jennie Rivlin Roberts of ModernTribe. 

Dan Moore has been on Auburn Avenue since the late 1970s and he is a historian who is passionate about the history of Sweet Auburn.  Jennie Rivlin Roberts is a native Atlantan who has opened up a new “popup shop” on Auburn Avenue.  While Mr. Moore welcomes the new shop owners he is concerned about the history of Sweet Auburn being forgotten and he struggles with how the new Auburn Avenue will be connected to the foundation upon which it stands. Jennie on the other hand sees here presence as a continuation of the history of this great Street and great city.  She respects the legacy and history of Sweet Auburn while she and her colleagues write the next chapter.  Listen to their interviews and tell me what you think:

 

What does it mean to remember?   What does it mean to pay tribute to the past?  How do changing communities and city streets remember from whence they have come?  What does the present owe the past?

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[1] Stott, William.  Documentary Expression and Thirties America. (Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 5-63.

Photojournalism 2014 Style: Getting the Word-Out & Getting the People Involved

Wilson Hicks

“Its elements used in combination do not produce a third and new medium.  Instead, they form a complex in which each of the components retains its fundamental character, since words are distinctly one kind of medium, pictures another.  Of various dissimilarities in the mediums the one most pertinent to understanding of the photojournalistic technique is to be found in the ways in which they activate certain subjective responses in the reader.”

Wilson Hicks

 Photographic Communication: Principles, Problems and Challenges of Photojournalism  p. 19

 Wilson Hicks was the photographic editor of Life Magazine  from 1937 to 1950.  It was Hicks who built the photography staff at Life Magazine  from 4 to 40. He was also a professor of photojournalism at the University of Miami from 1955 to 1970.  In many way Hicks can be considered one of the fathers / mothers of photojournalism.  He understood this delicate marriage between the still photograph and the power of the printed word.  The picture didn’t stand alone in the context of the story but rather the picture served as a key component of the story; the picture took center stage while being surrounded by a caption and written copy.  As Hicks says in the quote above these two mediums weren’t melted into a third medium but rather they were two distinct mediums that serve to “activate certain subjective responses in the reader.”  It is interesting that he calls the subject reacting “the reader.”  Isn’t the reader also a viewer?  The subject that engages these mediums are viewing and reading, reading and viewing, while being moved as the story is constructed in such a way to provoke movement.  The work of photojournalism is to achieve a “subject response” from the viewer / reader.  The goal of my work is to take this principle of “provoking a subjective response in my viewer / reader”  specifically in response to social stratification and gentrification in the Atlanta area.

Hicks and his team of photographers and editors were very intentional about their work.  They had a   They constructed their “picture stories” in such away to advance their cause.  I look back on this time with romantic rose-colored glasses. Once I clean my glasses off and situate myself in the present I ask myself, “How can I do what Hicks and his team did in the time of Life Magazine?”  I answer myself by saying:

point of view, they didn’t claim some unachievable objectivity.

       1. You must create / make images that are so moving and compelling that they demand that the viewer stop, look and ask questions.

       2. You must create a community conversation around the issues you feel passionate about and that need to be addressed.
    3. You must use the tools you have at your disposal in this age to get the word-out.  The magazine as we knew it no longer exist but in an age of social media / multi-media you can and must communicate in new and timely ways.  The community of concerned activists citizens can be developed and sustained via virtual mediums.

      4. You must become an activist in regards to the issue(s) you feel passionate about.

The model of Life Magazine and Wilson Hicks was founded on iconic  images arranged in the format of story that served to move the reader.  It is this story format that will work today.  We are wired for story and the power is in the story as told via the images and multi / mixed media that both informs and moves those who engage the work.  What is the historical foundation your work is built upon?  How are you updated that foundation to work in a changed world?   

BBC Documentary on Life Magazine

The photographers who did the work!
http://life.time.com/photographers/

Change or Be Left Behind!

Stephen Mayes

“Although some changes are painful, we have a rare and privileged opportunity to challenge the conventions that have limited the understanding of photography, and to create new models of visual storytelling.”

Stephen Mayes

“Toward a New Documentary Expression” in Aperture 214, p, 33

Stephen Mayes pushes me to think about how I share the story I am trying to tell. The story of Sweet Auburn is a story rooted in history that is being propelled into the future.  The question we must raise is, “Will we forget?”  Mayes argues that we have to tell powerful stories and place in the context of where our people are comfortable (Flickr, Vine, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, blogosphere).  This means that we can no longer wait for people to find us but rather we must take our message to the people and find our audience.  While Mayes is referencing photography his message transcends photography.  Mayes is saying to us that the world has changed; we have to find away to live into this change and allow this changing time to change us.

The wonderful privileged time I live in, as a storyteller is that I don’t have to wait for a publication or broadcaster to pick up my story.  I can use the tools at my fingertips to tell my story.  Not only can I use the tools at my fingertips but I can also tell more dynamic stories by using a multi / mixed media approach to storytelling.  Moreover if I have the time I can spend time on my story and tell a story over time and not reduce it to a sound bite or single news / documentary story.  I embrace the times and challenge that Mayes lays out.  The question for you and us is are we embracing the changing times in your industry(s)?  How are you changing what you do to take what you do to the people? How will you allow the way the world has changed – change you so that you can hear and be heard?

Stephen Mayeshttp://www.stephenmayes.co

Aperturehttp://www.aperture.org