Rise Up

 

"Michael Fisher Sr., lifts his son, Michael Fisher Jr., to dunk a basketball at the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue on January 15, 2021 in Richmond, Virginia."

Being on the road can often mean spending time with no one except yourself.

In January while covering a multiple day swim meet, I found myself with excessive free time. Instead of sitting around all day waiting for action to resume, I decided to roam around Richmond.

Erected in 1890, and standing 60 feet high, Richmond's graffitied statue of Robert E. Lee now serves as reminder of last year's racial justice movement. Art work, graffiti and memorials call out racial equity and take stand for social injustice.

I found it powerful to spend some time there photographing what I saw. 

It's one thing to read and photograph everything displayed. But being able to connect a human element to this display really helped communicate what the community has done here and serve as real reminder when the statue is removed in the future.