Amir
Portrait with Natalie Brasington
Portrait with Zachary Maxwell Stertz
At first, I wouldn’t say my history doesn’t matter, but I really didn’t focus on it like that. I just focused on my future, not my history until, here in Roosevelt Mr. Suggs teaches about our history, and he’ll show you how it - help our future. So, that’s why I just, like, started doing with it. He teaches us all about our history and basically was - he, like, another father to me.
What I’m trying to say is, like if I don’t know my history, like, how am I going to know my future, basically? Colin Kaepernick inspires me because he doesn’t - because - how he took his knee. I just feel, like, free. Like, other kids stand, and I just don’t. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel free, you know?
I want to spread the message to all black people to know, like, we are more than just what people say we are. I’m not just going to say white people. I want people to know that us black people, we can be more than just murderers, killers, thieves, and, like, just rappers. We could be whatever we want.
Milwaukee, 2018