News

Visions of Freedom

The Greenlee School's Society of Professional Journalists presented Visions of Freedom on January 31st. Visions of Freedom documented four influential photographs from the past and the stories, rights and freedom surrounding these photographs.

Photo by Stan Brewer

Dione Somerville, Black Student Alliance Dean of Students, discussed the photograph taken at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The photograph was "incredibly provocative" because it depicted the success of the freedom of education. It shows the struggles black students had to face to gain a higher education. The photograph captures the ridicule and hate of the time, but also the strength and promise of a future. Dean Somerville summed up the photograph by saying how efforts from a few individuals can change the views of an entire culture.

Photo by Stan Brewer

Claudia Marcela Prado-Meza and David Ernesto Romero presented a photo of Jennifer Bracamontes, Garfield H.S., Los Angeles. Bracamontes was a Latin student attending Garfield High School. Claudia passionately described the economic struggles that Latin students have endured throughout the years to gain higher education. She described an occasion where she had felt unaccepted by American culture. To her, the photograph represented the chance for higher education for this Latin student, and the acceptance of all Latin students into that part of American culture. David Ernesto Romero works tirelessly to help students achieve higher education. He feels that through education, we can obtain mental freedom, becoming equals as human beings. To him, the photograph was a call of responsibility to end the ignorance of discrimination and un-acceptance.

Photo by Stan Brewer

Professor Warren Blumenfeld from the LGBTAA presented the photograph of the Gay Liberation Front in 1970. Professor Blumenfeld began with a story from his past about his first gay pride march. Garbage was thrown at him and his fellow marchers. As many in the Gay Liberation Front, he felt stifled growing up. Even now, there is a continuing political struggle for the Gay Liberation Front. Many states are trying to ban same sex marriages, if they haven't done so already, denying their freedom. Gay individuals have been thrown out of their families, described as "diseased", unable to visit their life partners in the hospital. They are referred to with belittling and discriminative vocabulary. Professor Blumenfeld hopes that humanity is moving towards a spiritual harmony in which we can all be allies in the world and make it a more nourishing place to live.

Photo by Stan Brewer

The fourth photograph was Coffins of U.S. Soldiers, Iraq War, 2004, described by associate professor of journalism, Barbara Mack. The photograph represented the changing face of truth and the growing censorship of the media. The Pentagon works hard to keep such depictions of the Iraq War out of the media. The media's world image has become highly censored masking certain truths. Censorship today is becoming more prevalent than censorship in the past. Professor Mack hopes that our freedom and our right to the truth will become more of an issue to this generation, improving the world in which we live.

The Visions of Freedom event held a small discussion where audience members were welcome to share photographs and images that had impacted their lives. This event provided insight and reflection to all who had attended.

2008-02-06