masked woman and man in t-shirts with portrait against mural on background.

‘Our job is to be part of this struggle in a very positive way’

Photographer and National Geographic Storytelling Fellow Ruddy Roye traces his passion for social justice to his native Jamaica.

“We’ve had enough,” said Nicole Harney, at a June 1 New York City protest with her son, Justin Withers. Wearing T-shirts honoring George Floyd, they paused by a mural of Malcolm X and Harriet Tubman. Harney said she broke down watching the video of Floyd calling for his mother as he died. After that, she said, “I could not stay on Twitter or any other platform. I had to come march outside.”
This story appears in the January 2021 issue of National Geographic magazine. It is part of a series in which five contributors answer the question “What was it like to be a photographer in 2020?”

My sons are 15 and 12. We don’t do it every day, but frequently we sit down and talk about events. We talked about George Floyd, because I was in Houston to photograph the funeral after George died May 25 with a policeman’s knee on his neck.

I started out by saying to them that when I was allowed to go into the church and photograph George, I did not photograph him for 12 minutes. Like, people were behind me going, Dude, let’s go. You know, the line of people waiting.

But for me it was important to tell George’s body thanks. Thanks for his life. Thanks for the opportunities that we’re all going to get because of his death. Thanks for what is going to shift the narrative, what’s going to be changed because of his death. And it was important to do that.

(See more of 2020’s best photography, including discoveries, animals, travel, and moments we’ll never forget.)

I wanted them to understand that moment—that you’re not going to get Angela Davis on the front of Vanity Fair, or Breonna Taylor does not go on the front of a magazine, just because. We’re getting all of this influx of interest in racial justice, and this attention is coming because of all these names, all these hashtags. And so it was important for me to let them understand what that death means for us.

That it’s not just, he’s dead and gone, and here is another dead, hashtagged person. That his death is going to allow us new life, a new voice, a new push, and that our job is to be a part of this struggle and a part of this fight in a very positive way.

My sons, they can’t go anywhere; they understand what that is. I do not allow them to ride around the block in Cleveland. They cannot go take their bikes and go outside without me or their mom watching them. That’s their reality.

I keep telling my boys that they have to be about loving—loving who they are and loving their culture. My sons have the distinction of having a mom who is half Chinese. And so they do adopt parts of the Chinese culture. And I am Jamaican, so they do adopt a lot of the Jamaican culture. And they are Americans, so they live in an American culture.

I’ve always tried to give them this very holistic way of being in the world. But as they’re doing that, they have to start loving and appreciating their culture and not believe that what’s outside of theirs is better than theirs. We have to get to the space where we truly love our culture enough to be able to live in it.

Hear Roye talk about his life and work in season four, episode one, of our podcast, Overheard at National Geographic. Learn more at natgeo.com/overheard.
Read more from this series, “What was it like to be a photographer in 2020?”
Hannah Reyes Morales: ‘It was such a revelation, seeing this pandemic play out
David Guttenfelder: ‘Everybody’s got an important story to tell
Diana Markosian: ‘We helped students heal from the abrupt way their year ended
Anand Varma: The pandemic dealt photographers setbacks—and surprises

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