Protests
Take a look at two major protests I attended and how we got to the point of protest.
No Kings Protest
June 14, 2025
“Now, President Trump has doubled down. His administration is sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing our communities. They are targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting, and detaining people without warrants. Threatening to overtake elections. Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education when families need them most. Rigging maps to silence voters. Ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities. Driving up the cost of living while handing out massive giveaways to billionaire allies, as families struggle.
The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings — and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.” - No Kings (about)
You are able to convey all kinds of thoughts and emotions through a single photograph, and that is exactly what I wanted to do this day. In a country that feels (and often is) deeply fragmented, seeing thousands of people come together to protest was an amazing feeling.
University Protest
May 4, 2023
“Earlier this month, a horrific, hate-filled video of a UW-Madison student spouting racist slurs, threats, and a desire to own enslaved people began circulating around the UW-Madison community. It didn’t take long for the video and responses to it to go viral online, resulting in a petition for the expulsion of the students involved with the video amassing tens of thousands of signatures. However, despite the outrage triggered by this video, UW-Madison administration failed to respond in a way that protects and uplifts Black students.”
“These protests aimed to show the university that Black students were not going to concede in the fight to hold the students in the video accountable, as well as showcasing that the video is part of a much larger and oppressive system that UW perpetrates against students and staff of color.[15] The Thursday protests also took time to celebrate Black culture and resilience through song and dance, with protestors blocking traffic outside of the Wisconsin School of Business to participate in dance circles and listen to the work of Black artist.” - University Failure and Student Response
As a Black student on campus during this time, I had never felt so ‘seen’ and for all the wrong reasons. Black students are only a small portion of this University and hearing one of my fellow classmates make blatant threats towards people who look like me was extremely troubling. I didn’t know how to act, and I didn’t know if the people I sat next to in my classes were in support of what was said in the video.
Taking part in this protest and being able to capture different images is something I am personally proud of. I knew where I was needed this day and I am happy to share the images I captured.
