Description from the artist:
“Lest We Forget” is a plea that we not forget those who have been left behind, those who continue to suffer the ravages of prejudice, discrimination, and poverty in America.
I am a beneficiary of the civil rights movement. I have been witness to the sacrifices made by so many individuals in the course of the struggle for equality.
And yet, our work is far from over. The economic divide between those who have and those who have not is greater than ever and growing. Voting rights are being threatened and curtailed by groups whose efforts have been buttressed by increasingly reckless U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Civil rights are threatened by government surveillance. Individual liberties are being sacrificed at the altar of “stop and frisk”. And the disproportionate incarceration of people of color continues to skyrocket.
The forlorn, elderly woman wrapped in her American flag blanket symbolizes all of the still unfulfilled promises of this great country. “Lest We Forget” serves as a reminder to us all that progress is measured, not by how far we have come, but by how far we have yet to go. Onward!
My drawing was inspired by the photography of Newsweek photographer Charles Ommanney, who produced amazing and heart-wrenching photographs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.