Niko Siano
Making History
12/11/2020
Final Paper
Fiona Lee is thirty-four-year-old women who documented the Black Lives Matter protest in New York City and Long Island from May to July 2020. The name of Fiona documents is “The Rising” I think the name is appropriate. I believe it’s appropriate because this is a chance for members of the community to come together and rise up to make a difference to try to end police brutality. Fiona was so dissatisfied with how the BLM had been covered by mass media, Lee decided to take matters into her own hands by grabbing her camera and take authentic and real photos of what was actually happening during these protests. Lee went into these protests as an unbiased photographer, she wanted to witness the protest unfold first hand and see what was really happening instead of just listening to someone on the media tell her what was happening. What Fiona did was very important, taking photos first hand during the protest becomes a primary source and truly shows what had happened during the 2020 protest.
Fiona Lee, "The Rising “exhibit Amelie A. Wallace Gallery are photos that show exactly what was happening at the Black Lives Matter protest. The media had often said that the BLM protest was a terrorist organization, often the media was confusing or combining rioters and the peaceful protest with each other. Fiona Lee is a photographer who was taking photos a of Black Lives Matter protest in the present time in which it was happening, Fiona went out and watched and photographed all the live events and was able to understand points of views that often where missed the media. Lee said, “The coverage that I saw on the media. Watching the news every day and following up with Covid as well was very important to me. To go out and capture what was truly taking place at the protests, not just the destruction and chaos, but also to see what was happening in the forefront of the entire event… was there any commodore or injustice against the policy. So, we can be truly informed”. Fiona was on sight of these historic moments taking photo evidence of what was really going on at the time. Fiona Lee photos and her thoughts and discussions of what she witnessed and saw with her own eyes as the protest. She had seen the protest at the present time in which it had taken place, that is very important because she could see what was really happening and make her own decisions and opinions of what was really happening instead of someone else feeding her information that might not be true or not one hundred percent accurate. With Fiona’s photos we can now look at the photos and see all the emotions and everything that happened during the protest of Black Lives Matters in various spot in New York/Long Island. Another important aspect of Fiona’s photos is she approached these riots as an unbiased person, she went to be educated and these photos and the experience taught her very much and touched and really moved her emotionally.
The photos that Fiona Lee had taken is very important to show that the Black Live Matter protest where indeed peaceful despite what some media coverage had shown and she believes that these photos can show that there is hope for the future and that we as a community can make positive change. These photos show that the protest where peaceful and no violent has the media had often portrayed the protest to be. In the photo ‘Weeping Women’ you can clearly see that all the women are laying down with a police officer car in the background. The women laying down clearly on not harming or threatening anybody, there is no way they could cause any sort of harm while they are down on their stomachs. The media says that these protests are causing destruction and causing harm to the communities but this photo clearly shows that its just not the case. Another powerful photo Fiona shows that the Black Lives Matter Protest was peaceful and shows hope that a future generation can make positive change is ‘Little Girl You Are Loved’. The photo is one of a girl kneeling with a sign that says “I’M ONLY 9 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE EXPERIENCED RACISM,” the girl has a very serious look on her face and is wearing a shirt that appropriately says “Fearless”. The girl is down on one knee showing acts of peace. The girls sign might be the most emotional part about the entire photo. The fact that a 9-year-old girl has faced acts of racism and yet is not kicking or screaming but yet peacefully protesting like how all the great civil rights activist in the past have done is truly inspiring. Though it is sad that the girl has to be in this situation this young in life, it does give hope that the next generation can learn from these acts of police brutality towards African Americans and overall racism and rise up and make the world a better place.
The work done by Fiona Lee is very much related to narrating history by the use of her photos. Photographs have a way to be able to tell a history or to help people understand the emotions and really understand the context of the historic moment. These photographs help the viewer better understand history by telling a story. In Lee’s photos we can see the emotion amongst people, these people had become so devastated and hurt we can seem them all embracing each other with tears on their face. In both the photos ‘Brother In Need’ and ‘The Summoned Mother’ we can just see that the people at these protest where hurt so much that we can see them crying and in both we can see that people would come together to console that person. Fiona Lee photos and her thoughts and discussions of what she witnessed and saw with her own eyes as the protest. She had seen the protest at the present time in which it had taken place, that is very important because she could see what was really happening and make her own decisions and opinions of what was really happening instead of someone else feeding her information that might not be true or not one hundred percent accurate. The photos that Fiona took and all the events that she witnessed with her own eyes and ears have now become a primary source. When people look back in history of the times of the protest that had been taken place in 2020, historians can now look at Fiona photos as a primary source. Her work is now a sort of evidence that was used first hand or from the time period or event that can be studied and help determine or give a better understand the period in which the photos had been taken. Historians all the time look back in the past by reading works, watching recorded videos and looking at photos from a time period to help understand better what exactly was happening in the past. With Fiona’s photos we can now look at the photos and see all the emotions and everything that happened during the protest of Black Lives Matters in various spot in New York/Long Island.
Its evident that Fiona Lee who documented the Black Lives Matter protest in New York City and in Long Island was able to take photos that shows that the Black Lives Matter protest where indeed peaceful. The media often considered the BLM protest groups as a danger and where even referred to as a terrorist organization, often can grouped together with the looters that where causing havoc throughout the country. Fiona who was tired of the very little information that the media was giving and often the wrong information decided to check out the scenes for herself. Lee went into these protests as an unbiased photographer, she wanted to witness the protest unfold first hand and see what was really happening instead of just listening to someone on the media tell her what was happening. What Fiona did was very important, taking photos first hand during the protest becomes a primary source and truly shows what had happened during the 2020 protest. Fiona deciding to take these photos and showing the raw truth of the protest was very important. Because of her sacrifice to go out during COVID-19 and not knowing what could happen while she was with the protestors, we now all of photographic evidence of what was really happening during the protest. Forever any historian won’t have to read any news articles or listen to what any main stream media said about the protest because Fiona has photos of what happened, she has photos of the emotions and the brotherhood of communities untinting together and peacefully voicing their opinions.
My opinion regarding Fiona Lee and her work and her feelings towards the media and wanting to see what the protest where really like and getting to see it for herself is I tend to agree with her. The issues we have seen in this country that are currently going on is important, the racial injustice and this fight against race and the fight against police brutality needs to finally be solved. The fact that Fiona voiced her opinion and wanted to share her stories and photos of what actually is happening at this protest is very inspiring and important. The media many times will twist or may not even have all the correct information, hearing stories and photos from someone first hand really gives an idea of what is happening. The only source I had about the BLM protest was coming for local news stations who can twist the story anyway they want. The photos are very moving, seeing the emotion of people and seeing people of different races and genders come together to want to make change and all reach the same goal is very inspiring. I think anytime you can go out and see something on your own instead of just taking someone else word for it you should go do it. You may be getting information that just isn’t true and could greatly affect the way you would view something. I believe that we should all be educated on these issues in the proper way just like Fiona did. These racial issues affect all of us, it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, this has a greater impact. We should be working together with the Black Lives Matter protestors and the police to make a difference, not look at either as the enemy or try and take a side the way the media often tries to do. Just a credible source, make yourself the source to make a difference, everyone should always try to educate themselves.
Lee, Fiona. “The Rising.” Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, 2020. https://www.amelieawallacegallery.org/rising.