Sunshine, Lemons, and Love

Abstract

A prayer circle with Reverend Traci Blackmon, Canfield Green Apartments, Ferguson, August 10, 2014. (Aziza Binti) (Aziza Binti) A prayer circle with Reverend Traci Blackmon, Canfield Green Apartments, Ferguson, August 10, 2014. (Aziza Binti) Aziza Binti is a St. Louis–based storyteller who uses her talents in empowerment speaking, photography, and documentary film to encourage dopeness in willing souls globally. Her passion for documentary film began with the death of Black teen Trayvon Martin in 2012. “After Brown's murder, I could no longer believe the police upon my first thoughts. I began questioning everything, including my own motives, views of myself as a Black queer woman, Black men, white people, and every system that impacts all our lives. I am not the person I was before August 9, 2014. There is no way to unsee, unhear, or undo all that has been done to shift my world in such a dramatic way.” “To still live in St. Louis is about coming together as family, both chosen and birth, to do the inner work necessary to shift the narrative in our city to reflect the truth. We are still here, day in and day out, working, living, loving, supporting, learning, unlearning, and developing into the people who want to make sure that these kinds of murders end, along with all the systems, views, and hate that creates a breeding ground for Black and brown people to suffer in our city and around the globe.” Aziza Binti, Sunshine, Lemons, and Love, 2015. This picture was taken on the steps of the ART (Achieving Resilience Together) House, a housing cooperative formed by forum contributor Elizabeth Vega after the Ferguson protests to address the needs of underserved people of color living in North City, St. Louis. “On this day, kids dropped by asking for lemons to eat, and, well, it was something my camera could not pass up documenting.”