America Runs On People of Color: A Photo Story
A pandemic photo project to honor People of Color and Immigrant essential workers.
History is context: The building blocks of American capitalism are really quite simple. It started with abundant and fertile land stolen from Natives. Then onwards, the richest economy in the world, a nation of immigrants, has been painstakingly built by essential workers — people who came from somewhere else. Generations of free labor from enslaved Black people, waves of cheap labor from Irish, Italian, pan-Asian, and Latino immigrants, heavily discounted around-the-clock services via outsourcing, and some more free toil from the dungeons of prison labor.
This is the American Labor Anthology. And it stems from the same communities that contribute verse upon verse to the elongated prose about who gets wealthy and who dies trying. They are the backbone of this country. Building roads and bridges in unkind weather, picking strawberries that cost more than their day’s wages, slaughtering newborn calves into gourmet veal, carrying life-saving medications and ballots in heavy mail bags seven days a week, standing on their feet for hours at cash registers, inhaling discarded sights and smells of public trash, and the list is endless. They’re on the frontlines yet so invisible.
Essential workers who are People of Color and Immigrants already endured risk without proportionate reward. Then came an unforeseen, invisible, contagion.
Health disparity is a polite term. A veiled way to acknowledge how racist systems make People of Color sicker from the same conditions that their white counterparts can more easily prevent, treat, afford, access, evade, survive. For example, a condition like COVID.
You see, from my public health communicator’s point of view, relaying the five-step COVID-prevention message is simple enough: (1) Stay home, (2) Social distance, (3) Mask up, (4) Avoid large indoor interactions, (5) Wash your hands. And all those in conjunction, every day.
But viewed through a social justice lens, those five seemingly easy steps are reserved for people who live in homes where they are safe and distanced, have jobs they can do from home, have health insurance, can access COVID tests, own digital devices and afford wifi at home for online schooling, and get food delivered to their doorstep. And all those in conjunction. Basically, pandemics are for the privileged. It’s no surprise that twice as many Black Americans have died from COVID than white folks.
Creating Respectful Representation: As a photographer for People of Color, my goal is to reframe visual narratives that are excluded or misrepresented in mainstream media. As COVID days turned into weeks and months, I realized that my privileged stay-at-home life was relatively unaffected. I was being seamlessly supported by an invisible web of essential workers of the American Labor Anthology. The more I paid attention, the more I could “see” them. And photographing their acts of service was the least I could do to thank them.
What started as a way to honor these essential workers and document their daily risk evolved into a spontaneous community photo project. It simultaneously created a newfound appreciation for these frontline heroes who are hidden in plain sight and gratitude for my comfortable life -bubble.
Along with having their photo taken, most of these folks shared their stories laced with fear of getting sick, thankfulness for a paycheck, anxiety about not having childcare or insurance. And how to stay away from people not wearing masks.
This week, the United States has crossed over 200,000 COVID deaths. It’s far from over. If your life has remained intact since March, find an essential worker to thank, tip, buy lunch for!
#AmericaRunsOnPeopleofColor: A community photo project to honor essential workers in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area who are mostly People of Color and Immigrants. These photos were taken with verbal consent, during Phase 1 and 2 of the pandemic. However, some individuals declined to share their names and personal stories fearing workplace consequences. All photos were made on an iPhone. ImpactLens Photo is owned by Pavni Guharoy who reframes visual narratives about People of Color that are ignored by mainstream media. She is a woman of color, an adult immigrant, and a public health communicator.
