Emerging Man?

Gordon Parks: "Emerging Man, Harlem" (1952)

My tears and smile could not match the tears and smiles of joy for the ages above the San Jose mine. Emerging man helped by engineers, common folk, prayers, and love. Can the emerging man ever go back down the hole? Can you keep the emerging people down below? Progress?

We watch people under terrifying odds, come out of their hole with an unassailable and monumental dignity, but did we come out of our holes? What conversations, issues, questions, theories, and convention demand our struggle and for us to emerge new, fresh, and ready?

What happens to the miners, their way of life, and their culture when the news cycle loses interest?

Peace.

PS: Credit is due to James Baldwin for asking if whether The Next Time we deal with Fire

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