Take a journey around York county, and into the minds of those you may not have noticed at first glance. Our objective is to change the way we see others through our own words, and to show that in reality, we are all a lot alike.
Human Rights is an issue that has been debated for centuries, and in all honesty we believe it will continue to be that way. Rather than setting out for a debate, we set out for something of greater value than multiple one sided arguments defending a single side of an unnecessary argument. Following the style of a popular Instagram photographer, we grabbed our cameras and headed into the community on a quest for real life people, with real life answers. As we wandered the streets of the city we found (much to our surprise) lots of people who were willing not only to give us insightful answers, but to let us snap a few photographs during our brief chat. We asked them three simple questions..
One of the group’s favorite pictures is the photo with the quote “We’re the freest nation in the world and we’ve still got problems”. This quote was taken from the interview of Ben Hodge, the acting teacher at Central York High School. When asked a question about discrimination in the community he responded with the quote displayed in our picture. As soon as those words were put up in the air we knew we had to put them to use. The quote is a very true statement. As Americans, the word “freedom” has been engraved into our brains since the minute we stepped into a school building, or the very first moment we turned on a television. And it’s vital that we realize that our claimed equal freedom seems to only reach a selective group of individuals. In our community, and even in the schools the children of York attend there will always be a degree of separation among people. We as a nation, and we as a county, or even as a state claim to be all-accepting and together as a whole, “united” state (pun intended). It’s important, and eye-opening to realize that even though we are “free-er” than most, we will never be truly free.
Another picture that stood out is the photo of a woman sitting in a wire chair with the quote about “The System”. This women is named Natasha, and we met here outside of a tea and smoothie bar located in an alleyway near Central Market. We asked her when she thought human rights would no longer be a social issue. She responded with “I think it’s going to be one of those things that’s around for awhile. Just because of how our system works.”. While the quote in itself is very powerful, the photo also does part of the work to express the words in their true meaning. The brightness of the area surrounding her symbolizes the idea of the people, and areas not affected by the harsh reality of “the system” affecting their way of life. We also met Natasha’s mother, who told us that Natasha is a biracial woman. This gave us an idea on what to do with Natasha’s figure in the photo. We drew out the saturation from Natasha to show a sharper contrast of the minorities in our community being affected by “the system”. We dulled the color to show that these people are unable to be who they really are, and are unable to express themselves in ways that other people are able to do. That photo shows a message that we believe will never truly be seen with the importance of what it needs to be, and we hope somehow we can change that, even if it isn’t all that much.
The photo of two women sitting next to each other is another photo that stuck out to us as we looked back through them. The women on the right is named Susan, she is Natasha’s (from the previous mentioned photo) mother, and the girl on the left is her niece Emma. Susan informed us that she is married to an African-American, and has biracial children who are grown up (Natasha being one of them). She went on to state how thirty years ago that was heavily frowned upon, and still continues to be frowned upon by some in the current times. In the photo, we took the color from Susan’s figure, and the environment surrounding Emma, and brightened Emma significantly. This shows the idea of the newer, brighter generation coming forward to put an end to the discrimination of others because of the other person’s life choices, while we can never really change the ideas in the minds of our elders, we can put forth the ideas of our own for good use.
In conclusion, human rights is a constantly changing issue. Things are being given and taken every day, every hour, continuously. In the end, we wanted to show what people in our community thought about this global issue to show others. Hopefully, seeing the people around us, and their words of wisdom, can help make a change in the hearts of those who choose to see the world separated, and not as a singular community.
One of the group’s favorite pictures is the photo with the quote “We’re the freest nation in the world and we’ve still got problems”. This quote was taken from the interview of Ben Hodge, the acting teacher at Central York High School. When asked a question about discrimination in the community he responded with the quote displayed in our picture. As soon as those words were put up in the air we knew we had to put them to use. The quote is a very true statement. As Americans, the word “freedom” has been engraved into our brains since the minute we stepped into a school building, or the very first moment we turned on a television. And it’s vital that we realize that our claimed equal freedom seems to only reach a selective group of individuals. In our community, and even in the schools the children of York attend there will always be a degree of separation among people. We as a nation, and we as a county, or even as a state claim to be all-accepting and together as a whole, “united” state (pun intended). It’s important, and eye-opening to realize that even though we are “free-er” than most, we will never be truly free.
Another picture that stood out is the photo of a woman sitting in a wire chair with the quote about “The System”. This women is named Natasha, and we met here outside of a tea and smoothie bar located in an alleyway near Central Market. We asked her when she thought human rights would no longer be a social issue. She responded with “I think it’s going to be one of those things that’s around for awhile. Just because of how our system works.”. While the quote in itself is very powerful, the photo also does part of the work to express the words in their true meaning. The brightness of the area surrounding her symbolizes the idea of the people, and areas not affected by the harsh reality of “the system” affecting their way of life. We also met Natasha’s mother, who told us that Natasha is a biracial woman. This gave us an idea on what to do with Natasha’s figure in the photo. We drew out the saturation from Natasha to show a sharper contrast of the minorities in our community being affected by “the system”. We dulled the color to show that these people are unable to be who they really are, and are unable to express themselves in ways that other people are able to do. That photo shows a message that we believe will never truly be seen with the importance of what it needs to be, and we hope somehow we can change that, even if it isn’t all that much.
The photo of two women sitting next to each other is another photo that stuck out to us as we looked back through them. The women on the right is named Susan, she is Natasha’s (from the previous mentioned photo) mother, and the girl on the left is her niece Emma. Susan informed us that she is married to an African-American, and has biracial children who are grown up (Natasha being one of them). She went on to state how thirty years ago that was heavily frowned upon, and still continues to be frowned upon by some in the current times. In the photo, we took the color from Susan’s figure, and the environment surrounding Emma, and brightened Emma significantly. This shows the idea of the newer, brighter generation coming forward to put an end to the discrimination of others because of the other person’s life choices, while we can never really change the ideas in the minds of our elders, we can put forth the ideas of our own for good use.
In conclusion, human rights is a constantly changing issue. Things are being given and taken every day, every hour, continuously. In the end, we wanted to show what people in our community thought about this global issue to show others. Hopefully, seeing the people around us, and their words of wisdom, can help make a change in the hearts of those who choose to see the world separated, and not as a singular community.