Photograph of Tamara Williams in Baton Rouge by Kiran Singh Sirah
“You're either silent and unseen or vocal and present. There is no in between."- Tamara C Williams
In 2016, I happened to be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police. The shooting occurred just about a mile from where I was staying, but I didn’t hear about it until the next morning. I learned about the tragedy from a big TV screen mounted on the hotel café wall, which was on one of those 24-hour news channels. There was a lot of activity around town, and newscasters were framing it as a riot.
The thing was, I was right there in downtown Baton Rouge. I could look around and see with my own eyes that there was no evidence of rioting. People gathered, but it was to pay their respects, and not as an act of unrest. What I was seeing was a vigil, not a riot.
Later the same afternoon, I saw a young Black woman stand on the intersection of Florida Street and River Road, a stone's throw from the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Baton Rouge. She held a sign that read, “We are all Alton Sterling.” I stopped to talk to her. Her name was Tamara Williams, a 24-year-old documentary filmmaker, who had grown up in the area. Tamara explained why she was doing this for a better America and for a better world. She said, “You're either silent and unseen or vocal and present. There is no in between."
With Tamara's permission I got her permission to take this photo, which I posted on Facebook that evening. I added her quote and a link to The Rouge Collection, a local independent Black owned community media outlet that Tamara also contributes to. With the intention that it could contribute to bringing attention to news stories not being presented fairly via mainstream news channels.
I thought it was so brave for her to be standing there alone, and I learned a lot from our short conversation. A lot more than I could have learned from watching the TV back at my hotel.
Grateful to Tamara and many others like her for not being silent.
To really serve our communities, we need to interact with people. We need to listen. Listen in new ways. Our stories aren’t static. They’re part of living moments, stories in progress that are still being written as part of our collective history. We live in a country and a world where political divisions have grown more and more heated and difficult. Our collective task is to come together to envision a world in which hope, progress, inclusive dialogue on issues that matter, and positive change are back on the table. Working towards this goal is what gives our lives meaning. And it will become a legacy that we can pass to our children, and our children’s children, and on and on to generations long past our own lifetimes.
“You're either silent and unseen or vocal and present. There is no in between."- Tamara C Williams
In 2016, I happened to be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police. The shooting occurred just about a mile from where I was staying, but I didn’t hear about it until the next morning. I learned about the tragedy from a big TV screen mounted on the hotel café wall, which was on one of those 24-hour news channels. There was a lot of activity around town, and newscasters were framing it as a riot.
The thing was, I was right there in downtown Baton Rouge. I could look around and see with my own eyes that there was no evidence of rioting. People gathered, but it was to pay their respects, and not as an act of unrest. What I was seeing was a vigil, not a riot.
Later the same afternoon, I saw a young Black woman stand on the intersection of Florida Street and River Road, a stone's throw from the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Baton Rouge. She held a sign that read, “We are all Alton Sterling.” I stopped to talk to her. Her name was Tamara Williams, a 24-year-old documentary filmmaker, who had grown up in the area. Tamara explained why she was doing this for a better America and for a better world. She said, “You're either silent and unseen or vocal and present. There is no in between."
With Tamara's permission I got her permission to take this photo, which I posted on Facebook that evening. I added her quote and a link to The Rouge Collection, a local independent Black owned community media outlet that Tamara also contributes to. With the intention that it could contribute to bringing attention to news stories not being presented fairly via mainstream news channels.
I thought it was so brave for her to be standing there alone, and I learned a lot from our short conversation. A lot more than I could have learned from watching the TV back at my hotel.
Grateful to Tamara and many others like her for not being silent.
To really serve our communities, we need to interact with people. We need to listen. Listen in new ways. Our stories aren’t static. They’re part of living moments, stories in progress that are still being written as part of our collective history. We live in a country and a world where political divisions have grown more and more heated and difficult. Our collective task is to come together to envision a world in which hope, progress, inclusive dialogue on issues that matter, and positive change are back on the table. Working towards this goal is what gives our lives meaning. And it will become a legacy that we can pass to our children, and our children’s children, and on and on to generations long past our own lifetimes.