Photo credit: Tom Jenz
"Black Leadership Matters"
While I shot this image in central city Madison, it tells the story of African-Americans in many central cities throughout the country: Milwaukee, Detroit, Newark, Baltimore, Chicago and New York. BLACK LIVES MATTER is a fairly recent slogan trumpeted across the American media and burned into our collective conscience. Hopefully, BLACK LEADERSHIP MATTERS might be another slogan that will be added to the mattering map.
Chicago native Chili Burton is holding the newspaper. In 2010, Chili’s stepson, James Larry shot and killed Chili’s wife, Larry’s pregnant mother, their infant child and two nieces. Chili told me he nearly went berserk after hearing the tragic news. Since then, Chili has spent time in and out of jail for minor offenses but has recently found his road to recovery.
Central City Stories is a collection of visual narratives from Milwaukee's central city by writer and fine arts photographer Tom Jenz. You can see more of his work at TomJenzAmerica.com.
