View allAll Photos Tagged SocialJustice
I dont think I need to explain who Martin Luther King was. If you are interested in his life and work, you can look him up. There is plenty of information about him and on what he dedicated his life. Today, we celebrate his birth as he was born on January 15th 1929 in Atlanta. And I should probably share a picture of the house where he was born (since we celebrate his birth), however the photo I took was pretty crappy so here I am posting a picture from the Martin Luther King Jr Natinal Historic Park where his tomb is. Have a great weekend everyone!
B&W , a call for equality , justice and love.
#black #white #justice #equality #love #stopracism #humanrights #blackhistory #antiracism #socialjustice #blackexcellence #blackunity #racismstillexists #racismhurts #blackwomenwhobird #askablackbirder #birdingwhileblack #blackinnature #postabird #bird #nature #wildlife #wild #life #grackle #spring #photooftheday #photographer
#naturephotography #flower
A powerful statement on equality and human rights in a contemporary gallery (colour version).
Note the shadow art. The last two lines of the model's(*) t-shirt read (No room for...) 'sexism' and 'hate'.
* Emilio,
THE STORY | LA HISTORIA
(ES) En los comentarios abajo, mi respuesta a Silvia.
Y a continuación, lo pongo en inglés:
(EN) After seeing this compelling sculpture inside MACA, I noticed the guy wearing that outstanding t-shirt with a female friend, now on the same floor. So I thought: ‘Wouldn't a picture be great...’ set against the repressing, ominous overtones of the shadow art. So I walked over to chat and ask. Luckily, he and his friend were both really nice people. I've sent him the larger version pictures from the photo session and hope they're of use in helping him achieve those aims, raise people's consciousness and oppose bigotry.
I used to visit the Palm House in Liverpool as a child, The delightful scent of the inside always contrasted with the severe marble and bronze statues of Henry Yates Thompson outside.
Returning today I noted that several of the figures are now rather more colorful.
I learn they have been subjects of artistic interventions aimed at recontextualizing their historical narratives. In 2021, fashion designer Taya Hughes adorned the statues of Christopher Columbus shown here and those of Captain Cook, and Henry the Navigator with elaborate Elizabethan-style ruffs made from fabrics associated with indigenous populations in Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. This "Statues Redressed" project sought to prompt discussions about the legacies of these historical figures, many of whom were involved in colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.
The project aimed to engage the public in conversations about how we should respond to statues that were built to honor individuals now viewed in a different light. Whatever, they are certainly less scary than I recall.
ICY and SOT’s work completed. My previous photo shows the section (in progress) pertaining to “Black Lives Matter.” This entire mural is dedicated to “Justice” and “People Power.” The brothers are stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran now living in NYC., who contribute to both Iranian and international art culture through incredible stencil work that depicts human rights, ecological justice, and social and political issues. This piece is on the corner of Leeland Street and St. Emanuel, close to downtown Houston, and it is part of the Houston HUE Mural Festival.
We've gotta address something that's been really disgusted me. I can't stay silent about the racist behavior coming from Ditto and her colleagues any longer. It's like a broken record playing the same awful tune, and I'm done pretending it's okay!
We need to step up and shut this down. Our workplace should be a zone of respect and inclusivity, not a platform for bigotry.
Let's make it clear, there's zero tolerance for this kind of ignorance here.
This ain't no playground spat, this is straight-up racist bullying. Someone done messed with my friend, spewing hate like a broken faucet. But guess what? We ain't gonna stand for it!
Reporting for duty. Taking a stand against racism to build a better, more inclusive society. 💪 #NoToRacism #SocialJustice
MIGUEL ÁNGEL BLANCO GARRIDO
(Ermua, Spain, 13 May 1968 – Lasarte-Oria, Spain, 13 July 1997)
Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido was a Spanish politician and municipal councillor of the People’s Party (Partido Popular, PP) in the town of Ermua, in the Basque Country. He was born on 13 May 1968 into a humble family of Galician origin. His father, Miguel Blanco, was a construction worker, and his mother, Consuelo Garrido, a housewife. He had one sister, María del Mar.
He studied Economics at the University of the Basque Country (Sarriko campus). Before entering politics, he worked alongside his father in construction and later as a consultant. He led a simple life, was passionate about music—he played the drums in local bands—and enjoyed sports and community life.
In 1995, he joined the People’s Party and was elected town councillor in Ermua, carrying out his public service during a period of intense political and social tension in the Basque Country due to terrorism.
On 10 July 1997, Miguel Ángel Blanco was kidnapped by the armed separatist group ETA while on his way to work. His captors issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Spanish government, demanding the transfer of ETA prisoners to prisons in the Basque Country and Navarre. His abduction provoked massive demonstrations across Spain calling for his release.
When the ultimatum expired, on 12 July 1997, he was shot twice in the back of the head and left gravely wounded with his hands tied near San Sebastián. He was found shortly afterward and taken to hospital, where he died in the early hours of 13 July 1997, at the age of 29.
His murder caused a profound national shock and gave rise to a powerful civic reaction against terrorism, known as the “Spirit of Ermua,” becoming a turning point in Spanish society’s rejection of political violence.
I publish these characters to remind people, especially the young, that these men and women gave their lives for justice, for human rights, for the protection of our communities and our planet. Their sacrifice is a lesson and a warning: hatred and injustice must never have the last word.
Like adults, children cannot control when they get sick. They also can't control when they have asthma attacks, are exposed to sometimes life threatening allergies, have seizures, and/or get hurt. This is absolutely why we need a nurse in every school every day!
**All photos are copyrighted**
First of a B&W urban series on homelessness in Seattle. Prominently visible from the breakfast room at my hotel, but I went down to the street for a better angle.
One could pursue this theme in any American city. I don’t claim that the series is in any way definitive or systematic. I just shot some of what I saw walking through generally prosperous commercial and residential neighborhoods on the north side of downtown. Homelessness in America used to be a mental health problem. That hasn’t been fixed—some of it will show up in this series—but now there is also “economic homelessness”. Due to limited availability, in many places those with a median income can not afford median housing costs. The problem predates Covid.
For the Brits: “median” is American for “central reservation”, the green belt separating traffic on multi-lane roads.
Happy Mono Monday, anyway!
6 Sep 2021; 09:30 CDT; Acros & post
Big Issue Seller's dog on the streets of Bath yesterday. (I been told by a commenter who knows the dog that his name is Trigger)
For those who don't know, Big Issue magazine sellers are homeless people trying to raise funds for finding places to live, and the Big Issue magazine supplies a legitimate way of doing that without begging..
Many homeless folk in the UK have dogs. Some "normal" people will see it as a street person's cynical and manipulative way to get extra money from the government and/or passers-by. That is possibly so for many of them. But there is no doubt these furry friends provide some much-needed love and companionship and maybe protection for people who have - for whatever reason - hit rock bottom. We all need a bit of love and unconditional acceptance in our lives.
The sad truth is more people will be genuinely moved and want to help the dog than his owner. Such is cruel modern times.
Standing firm for equality and against all forms of hatred and discrimination
Picture taken with the model's permission, after spotting him in a contemporary art gallery. More of the story here on the Pro account picture:
flic.kr/p/2rM9Dwa — with a colour version which includes the full sculpture and shadow art.
Because the footprints show
That you are by my side
#ArethaFranklin
#NeverGonnaBreakMyFaith
#BlackLivesMatter
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLbHi92YOhE&list=RDZLbHi92YOh...
Aretha Franklin - Never Gonna Break My Faith (Official Video) ft. The Boys Choir of Harlem
No students ever wanted their teachers to not fight for social justice. Let that sink in. We are the voice of students. We are the voice that says their dreams matter, their education matters, their FUTURE matters.
Yesterday, Chicago Public Students wrapped themselves around City Hall in a sit in because they believe in their own future. We believe in them, too!
**All photos are copyrighted**
Most people don't realize that this is not just about working conditions...it's about learning conditions. The schools that have the chairs and desks that are falling apart, the lead in the water (a high number of public school drinking fountains tested), the roaches and the rats tend to be schools on the South and West sides where we have blighted neighborhoods and food deserts. Children learn very early on that there is no investment in them. Currently, our mayor would rather invest in more police in schools and in neighborhoods instead of in young human beings and that is unacceptable. This is true school to prison pipeline level of racial discrimination and it must stop!
This also filters down to abelism too. If you live in a neighboring district and you happen to have a child with a physical need, you can get top of the line equipment. In Chicago, you have to beg and beg and then you get dirty broken equipment that isn't safe that has literally been stored in a warehouse for decades. That is not OK!
**All photos are copyrighted**
Chicago teachers are still waiting for our mayor, Lori Lightfoot to follow through on her promises to give the schools more nurses and social workers. She'd still rather give it to condo developers and corporations that don't pay their fair share. The argument is always "But the corporations create jobs!" Schools create jobs, too! Invest in the future!
**All photos are copyrighted**
Yitzhak Rabin (March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995, Israel)
Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli military leader and politician who became one of the most important figures in Israel’s modern history. Born in Jerusalem in 1922, he served as a general in the Israeli army and played a key role in the country’s wars and defense. Later, he became Prime Minister of Israel, leading the nation during a critical time of conflict and political tension.
Despite his military background, Rabin chose the path of peace. He recognized the need to negotiate with the Palestinians and sought to end the long-standing conflict between Israel and its neighbors. He signed the Oslo Accords, a historic agreement aimed at establishing a framework for peace and mutual recognition. Rabin’s efforts represented a bold choice: to prioritize diplomacy, dialogue, and the acknowledgment of the rights of all human beings over continued war and domination.
On November 4, 1995, Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist during a peace rally in Tel Aviv. His murderer, Yigal Amir, opposed Rabin’s pursuit of peace and saw his efforts as a threat to Israel’s nationalist and militaristic agenda. Rabin’s assassination was not only a personal tragedy but also a symbolic act that confirmed the resistance within Israel to peace and demonstrated how internal forces can uphold a state built on war rather than reconciliation.
Reason for assassination:
Rabin was killed because he chose peace over war. His vision of coexistence and recognition of Palestinian rights was seen as a betrayal by those who wanted to maintain a system of domination and militarism. His death marked the end of a real opportunity for peace in Israel and highlighted the power of war-driven forces within the state that continue to influence its policies to this day.
Purpose of this series:
This series of portraits honors historical figures who died for the people, for justice, and for the truth. It is meant to awaken young minds, inspire reflection, and encourage viewers to recognize the sacrifices made by those who dared to oppose oppression, challenge violence, and fight for the rights of all human beings. Each image serves as a reminder that standing for peace often comes at the highest cost, and that remembering these sacrifices is essential to resisting injustice.
For millions of brick workers in Bangladesh, life is incredibly hard. In the 8,000 brick fields, according to the United Nations Development Program, men and women carry loads of bricks on their heads for 8 or more hours a day. Each brick weighs about 2.5 kilos (5.5 lbs), and many workers carry between 10-20 bricks up to 30 kilos per load. For this exhausting and grueling work, they get paid about US$2-3 a day. The kilns used for baking the bricks burn wood and coal, even plastic and tires, spewing toxic pollutants, smoke and ash. Their day long exposure to so much environmental pollutants, smoke, heat and dust without any protective equipment cause many workers to suffer from lung diseases like asthma, bronchitis, silicosis and cancer, as well as skin diseases and injuries due to falling bricks. Debt bondage forces many workers to labor under such hazardous and punishing conditions. Often, entire families with children old enough to work, labor for years, trapped in a spiraling cycle of poverty to pay off their debts to the bosses /moneylenders. It was heart-breaking for me to see the exploitation and suffering of the brick workers, and moved me to tell their story.
UUSC's JustWorks programming includes a service-learning trip entitled "Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey." This inter-generational experience visits important historical locations from the Civil Rights movement and participants hear firsthand accounts from activists who took a stand for social justice.
uusc.org
**Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007)**
Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani political leader and the first woman to head a Muslim-majority country. Born in Karachi to a prominent political family, she was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former Prime Minister executed after a military coup. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Benazir became a symbol of courage, democracy, and women’s empowerment in a deeply patriarchal society.
After years of exile and imprisonment, she returned to Pakistan to continue her fight against corruption, dictatorship, and the alliance between politics and religious extremism. Her goal was to restore democracy and justice to her country.
On December 27, 2007, during a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in an attack involving both gunfire and a suicide bomb. Her death was not an accident — it was the silencing of a woman who challenged the system and exposed the dangerous ties between power, military forces, and extremist groups.
Benazir Bhutto remains a symbol of moral resistance and sacrifice — a reminder that truth and freedom often demand the highest price.
The *Characters* series was created to awaken consciousness and remind people — especially younger generations — that history is also made of voices silenced by power.
Each photograph is an act of memory and resistance, a tribute to those who paid with their lives for truth, courage, and integrity.
These portraits seek to inform, to move, and to raise awareness.
They are small lessons of history, sociology, and above all, humanity.
Because remembering is not just a duty — it is a form of rebellion against indifference.
El Centro Humanitario Para Los Trabajadores, created to defend the human rights of day laborers. California Street and Park Avenue West, Denver, CO.
I'm an Occupational Therapist but I LOVE the nurses I work with who are a support in so many ways to the children who come to their offices for everything from a shot of insulin to someone they trust who they can support abuse to (seriously).
I have personally witnessed a principal more than once having to call a parent and tell them to pick up a son or daughter because there was no nurse at the school to care for a child with insulin dependent diabetes or for a child with severe seizures. This is unacceptable. Education is a HUMAN RIGHT for ALL KIDS. We cannot say children who have diabetes or seizures don't deserve this. I have a real ethical problem with this!
Again, in other school districts nearby, they have more than enough nurses. Just because Chicago Public Schools is a larger school district does NOT mean that students with medical issues deserve less education. This is not ok!
**All photos are copyrighted. Please do not use without permission**
Vigil for Victims of Police Brutality: King-Seabrook Chapel, Huston-Tillotson University campus, Austin, Texas
I do Not Agree with the Proposition that I am Worthless.
A section of a mural seen in San Francisco's Mission District
It's back to school in Chicago and many other American cities in Chicago and, as the quote taken from Scottish Author Jenni Fagan and her novel, The Panopticon, suggests, the brain is very powerful. We must remember to exercise it to the fullest extent and teach it to learn not just facts about the world, Math, Humanities, and Science, but to have empathy for all people in the world and to read carefully, knowing that "alternative facts" are actually code words for lies and that climate change is a very real thing....we must teach the brain and the heart at the same time about social justice and love for all people, including immigrants and refugees..I'd rather my tax dollars going to the needy than to Trump's golfing. That's what being a good American and also a good human being means.We must also show compassion for all students regardless of race, class, citizenship, or gender identity. These are the ways we teach the brain and the heart to function like a human so that we teach our children well.
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
Chicago Teachers are on Strike, which is what 94% of the teachers and support staff voted for district wide. I happen to be lucky enough to have worked in this Chicago Public Schools District since 2001 when I became an Occupational Therapist for children with different ability levels. I love my students and I would rather be in school instead of marching outside on the streets. What a lot of people may or may or not know is that according to Illinois State Law, teachers can only strike over pay. So, our new Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot offered a 4% raise per year (16% over 4 years) in hopes that this would be enough.
But, this is not enough. Why? Because us teachers and clinicians are rebels. We don't do this for the money. We do this for the kids. We dare to dream of a world where we don't have to ask for a nurse, a library, and a social worker for all of our schools because in the suburbs, these are all given and more. Why should Chicago students have less? Why should Chicago students suffer with dirty classrooms? Are these good learning conditions? A few years back they tested the water fountains at school for lead and found at least 30% of those tested had lead and so they just stopped testing. And nothing was done about it. Are these good learning conditions? Chicago is plagued by classism and racism that forces many children into unsafe living environments but Lori Lightfoot would rather open up police stations than provide money for schools. Are these good learning conditions when our students come to school with toxic stress syndrome and no social worker is present to help them?
The answer in our hearts is no. And there isn't a law in existence that is going to keep Chicago teachers from fighting. I will fight. I will lose my pay. I will march in the cold. But, I will stand up for these children and it is an honor. They need to see this. They need to see their teachers love them and will fight for them to exist in a better world. To breathe. To be loved. To have a high quality of life. That is what the Chicago Teacher's Union Strike is really all about.
***All photos are copyrighted. But please, if you or a loved one are in this photo, write to me at kirstiecat@gmail.com with a link to the photo in question and I will send you the high res version for free.**
JUAN ANTONIO LÓPEZ
(Honduras, 1978/1979 – 14‑9‑2024)
Juan Antonio López was a Honduran environmentalist, human rights defender, community leader, and Catholic activist born in the department of Colón, Honduras.
Married and father of two daughters, he served his community as a coordinator of social pastoral work in the diocese of Trujillo and co-founder of the pastoral for integral ecology.
From 2015, he co-founded and coordinated the *Comité Municipal por la Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos* in Tocoa, fighting to protect the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers and the Montaña de Botaderos “Carlos Escaleras Mejía” National Park from mining and other destructive activities threatening the water and land of local communities.
López denounced corruption, impunity, and severe environmental violations and received threats for his commitment. Despite protection measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, on 14‑9‑2024, while leaving Mass and entering his car in Tocoa, he was **assassinated by gunfire from unidentified men**, in a murder connected to his fight against economic and political powers seeking to exploit natural resources at the expense of the communities.
I publish this series of characters to awaken consciences and reveal injustices committed by those in power against courageous individuals. Each story aims to remind the public, especially young people, that the people must be aware of their rights, that injustices must not be forgotten, and that remembering history can inspire acts of courage, solidarity, and resistance. These individuals paid with their lives for standing up to defend truth, freedom, and human rights.
One of the major issues that is being talked about right now in bargaining is the fact that there is not significant language on class size. After our previous mayor, Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools within his first months of being elected, we have some schools that have over 40 per class, including Kindergartens that have 47 children! They do this mainly in areas of the city where they don't think parents have power or will complain, which is extremely racist.
In many neighboring districts, class size is between 20-30 and some districts even have two teachers team teaching core subjects.
When Lori Lightfoot, our current mayor, made her acceptance speech, she talked about how Chicago would no longer be a "tale of two cities" but she isn't doing anything so far to change that. She'd rather pay police more than teachers even though their rate of solving crimes is far less than any other major metropolitan area.
**All photos are copyrighted**