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Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.

Adam Serwer in The Cruelty Is the Point in The Atlantic, October 3, 2018. I was reminded—again—of Donald Trump’s monstrous cruelty as he chose the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub killings to rescind Obama-era health care protections for transgender Americans. Cruelty is his only guiding principle. 

“Images are like languages. While with different languages, many of us can hear and speak the words or extract the meanings, sometimes we still won’t know how to translate things perfectly, sometimes our real accents will still be there. In those cases we look to a native speaker to translate, to teach us, to give us the correct pronunciation or best meaning. That’s what I see black photographers and photojournalists to be at this moment, and for this movement. The translators of these times and the teachers of our stories.”  – Flo Ngala

The photo above (by photographer Jonathan Cherry) and quote from photographer Flo Ngala are from

Capturing the cry for change: photographers on the BLM protests

 in The Guardian, a collection of photos and narratives by black photographers covering the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.