American Pictures reported in the Colgate Maroon-News on Nov. 21, 1997

Univ. of Chicago Student Journal

By Mwisa Chisunka
Maroon-News Staff

An unexplainable nervousness filled the room as Jacob Holdt paused in his American Pictures presentation for intermission. Faces in the audience were empty and lifeless because many of the people had just finished watching something that had been described as, "captivating, moving, upsetting and remarkable."

On Tuesday, in a lecture sponsored by the ALANA Cultural Center, Holdt returned to Colgate with a presentation that forced all people to confront what he called "middle class bias." A vagabond from Denmark, Holdt presented his 20-year journey through the most poverty-stricken areas of society in a slide show that included dialogue by not only Holdt, but everyone from klansmen to a 134 year-old slave.

At the commencement of his presentation, Holdt forced the entire audience to lean into discomfort. Commentary such as "this show is oppression, not entertainment" and "you will go through emotions that blacks have always tried to express to us" were prevalent in his tone at the opening of his presentation.

Holdt showed slides that presented real life images of parts of America that the typical upper-middle class person might like to forget actually existed. The first half of his presentation consisted of images of oppressed people (Blacks, Whites and Native Americans) in the South, while the second half dealt more with images of urban ghetto life.

Holdt has spent most of his life experiencing this himself. He has stayed with many of the people he photographed, even selling his blood plasma for film for his camera in the beginning. Holdt has seen it all in his life, as some of the people he stayed with lived in shacks, while others, such as the Rockefeller family, lived in mansions.

First-year Emily Hirshorn stayed for the five-hour event and found it disturbing, but at the same time she said that it was effective. "I appreciated the commentary and analysis of our society," she said. "I think that the presentation opened a lot of people's eyes. A lot of people see ghettos on television, but they never see the slavery."

Junior Rukiya Brown also liked the approach Holdt took with his presentation. "I appreciate how Holdt was honest about how everyone is racist and sometimes people can't change their minds because forms of racism are ingrained in people's minds as youngsters."

Holdt's presentation raised a great deal of questions and exposed individuals to ideas never before explored, as he forced students to delve into the unknown about issues that affect many of our lives, but that at the same time we choose to avoid.

"After seeing the presentation, I now know where a lot of people are coming from," first-year Travis Carter said. "I felt oppressed because I was forced to put myself in the role of the oppressor, and I had never considered myself to be one before."

"I understand what he said about white people being oppressors," Brown added, "but at the same time, however, he was implying that black people are victims, white people are oppressors and that only white people can control the fate of black people. Personally, I believe black people can control their own fate."

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