OUR POLICE
WHICH SIDE ARE THEY ON? – OUR POLICE There is something very attractive about police. The handsome guardian, a Glock at his side, a radio on his belt, perhaps a flashlight clipped to his back, a regular Batman ready to protect us. When the 2004 RNC nomination of Bush and Cheney was about to take … Continue reading
John Lewis Gone to the Angels
SNCC workers Courtland Cox,Joyce Ladner and Frank Smith with John’s casket in the Rotunda of the Capitol.The catafalque supporting the casket of former SNCC Chairman, John Lewis was originally quickly constructed to hold President Lincoln’s coffin. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/
John Lewis’s Body
Who can explain the miracles of this life? John Lewis was a miracle. He was sent to us to change the country and to heal it. His soul has left his body, and his body will be moved from Troy to Montgomery to the Capitol steps so we can all be close to him, to be touched by him, to say hello, and with tears in our eyes, to say good bye.
STRIKE!
Yesterday in Albuquerque and across the globe students walked out of class in the cause of saving Planet Earth. Students marched out of school here, sometimes with their teachers, to fill a rally in a downtown park. Most had permission. Then a march to the downtown office building that housed two New Mexican Senators (both … Continue reading
Message to the Parkland Students: Charles McDew is dead
This is McDew’s message to you children. Organize now, and do not let adults lead you. Do not think a Leader will appear. No Martin Luther King Jr will come to lead you, because he didn’t lead the civil rights movement. This is a picture promoted by the establishment and the media. Dozens stood beside, behind and in front of Dr King; dozens of brave, young men and women. Chuck McDew was one of these. A great American hero.
The Artist and the Congressman
John Lewis with Danny Lyon at the Whitney in front of the 1963 picture Lyon made as SNCC’s Julian Bond and John Lewis stand before the ruins of the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham. The previous morning a KKK bomb had killed four young girls inside the church. “The Artist and the Congressman” a … Continue reading
John Lewis, Bernie Sanders, “What is the Truth?”
47,851 have visited this site since we posted the pictures I made of young Bernie Sanders in 1962. They came looking for the truth. Three major news organizations have used a photograph I made of Bernie Sanders as a twenty year old student at the University of Chicago to attack his campaign and to denigrate … Continue reading
Julian Bond
A Generation is Vanishing The sudden loss of Julian Bond is stunning and historic. One of the founders of the SNCC, the late James Forman recruited him for SNCC when he saw from his resume that Julian was a journalism major. Eighteen months later I was also recruited by Forman because of … Continue reading
A SNCC Photographer reviews “Selma”
James Agee wrote that mediocre films are alot more interesting to discuss than great ones. “Selma” is a very stimulating film but not a very good one. Made by the director Ava DuVernay , it was her first chance to make a big budget film, a very ambitious film, and in that … Continue reading
Utube video of Julian Bond and Danny Lyon
This is the NG edit of a portion of Lyon’s and Bond’s discussion at the National Geographic. It was edited to show sections of their discussion of Lyon’s work for the SNCC when in 1963 Lyon and Bond worked in the same Atlanta SNCC office. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjXHTMdjt9M
American Heros
Martin Luther King – Life without Parole John Lewis – Three life sentences Julian Bond – Thirty years, isolation unit Malcolm X – Death James Forman – Fifty years, Conspiracy Diane Nash – Life Fannie Lou Hammer – Twenty-Five years Bradley Manning – Forty years, isolation Edward Snowden – Death, changed to Life without Parole, … Continue reading
Definitions of Democracy, part Two
The purpose of Democracy is Democracy In part One of this thought, posted a couple years ago, the streets of NYC were praised as among the highest examples of Democracy in the history of man. A few weeks after, having nothing to do with the blog, Occupy moved into Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. (An … Continue reading
Juan Goes Home
Reading the opening of Jean Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew, he argues that Anti-Semitism (dislike of, avoidance of, negative table talk about, hatred of, and extermination of Jews – he wrote this in 1947) was a Passion, not an Opinion. An Opinion is “You can’t trust Jews”, “They didn’t serve France in enough numbers in … Continue reading
Occupy Thanksgiving 2011
In fifty years of traveling, of talking with, of photographing people I have often wondered “Is America a Country?” The disparity of culture, of wealth, of a people often at odds with each other makes me wonder what is it that unites us, if anything?
Our history is divided between the 16th … Read more
SNCC 50th Anniversary, Raleigh, NC
My name is Danny Lyon. In the summer of 1962 I hitch hiked to Cairo Illinois where I met John Lewis, and saw and photographed my first demonstrations. Within days I reached Albany, Georgia where I met James Forman. When Forman understood that I had come from Chicago to photograph the Movement, he sent me … Continue reading
President Obama — SNCC’s Victory
Victory, after forty six years. This happened last night. This is for the children. It is for the grand children. This is the victory of the Movement. This is the victory of SNCC. What were they fighting for? Not just integration. Not even justice and the right to vote. They did not use the word … Continue reading
Bleak Beauty Blog 