Active Allyship

Opening statement by Co Founder, Joshua Kissi

This past week in America has revealed some of the ugly truths of our country. It has provided light to the issues we've experienced as African Americans and having the rest of the nation join us in action. As a photographer I think of how impactful and influential images has been in our lives as a society. Images are supposed to represent our ideas and imagination so why does the appearance of one people override the other? The camera not only works as an extension of the eye, it also validates our experiences in who we are as people. White visuality has become the standard of how we see the world and unfortunately the lens on how we see ourselves. The white gaze has weaponized communities of color in particular black bodies and provided validity to the warped reality of white supremacy.  Personally I've felt conflicted on whether or not my photography had a space on the frontlines of the protest for a plethora of reasons.  The primary reason being that as a Black man before being an artist I need the ability to feel the range of emotions before acting out creatively. When you experience a death in your family, you're given a time to grieve, recover and comes to terms with the beautiful memories you now have lost. The majority of time for Black people the instances are so polarizing we aren't provided the opportunity to recover from the immediate and long term trauma. As Black photographers we have the ability to make people recognize the humanity in our causes but it's not only on us to bring to light. We have turned our music into protest, our voices into history pages and our stories into art. For the longest time I've felt like the Black community has spoke to America about our issues and it has fell on deaf ears.  Now is a time for change if you aren't vocal about this, your silence signifies that everything that is  happening is okay. 

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"Active Allyship" has been a phrase floating around these last few weeks and we wanted to highlight that in motion. Hear from active ally, Michael (Mikey) Hoyle on his upbringing, his views on the current climate and what active allyship has meant for him as a White, male married to a Black/African woman. Mikey was on the frontlines in Seattle during the first protests and so we have intertwined a few of his images throughout his story. These images are available for editorial use only via our TAKE Collection among other powerful images of the protests from photographer and active ally, Masoud Torabi. Like, comment and share!

Life growing up

My household was very structured, as balanced as it could be in a split custody home. Both my parents were Military and Dad was from New York and Mom from Michigan. I was born in Hawaii and grew up here in Sequim, Washington. My Dad was the outspoken force about a lot of things when it came to work ethics and being a man growing up. He was very stern and used a lot of tactics to maintain his beliefs which I believe are ultimately good but with some bias.

When I would see my Mother on the weekends, she would be the Love. She instilled my heart, she is a giver, a provider. She always told me that love is love; never change who you are for anyone.  Growing up I never saw the contrast between race. I grew up in a very small town that had no more than a couple of Black families. From what I was taught, I was told never to treat anyone any differently. Generally, I believe that if you’re a good person you will attract good people. It wasn’t until I got older that I recognized the contrast between people. I moved out when I was 15 years old and I have never been in the same place for more than a year until I met my wife. My Dad had his friends, some Jewish, one Black and many others.  My Mom doesn’t really have many friends.

My integrated household

My home is a place of love, acceptance, and understanding. We have no gender roles. Frilancy and I learn from each other through education and understanding each-others format through action and a deep-rooted willingness. It wasn’t until I married Frilancy that I became aware of my privilege.

After seeing how people looked at us in public when in my hometown, or how different they treat her in public places vs I, it was extremely eye opening. The one time I remember more than anything was back in 2016 I was moving from my one place to our condo in Tacoma, Washington. My brother-in-law Kay and I were going to get a U Haul to pack up some of my stuff, I had booked the truck online reservation. When I arrived, I showed up and said, “Hi, my name is Mike Hoyle, I made a reservation online for the truck”. The white woman behind the counter threw me the keys, had me sign a piece of paper and I left.

She didn’t check my ID or anything. Kay said, “Damn, that must be nice…” I didn’t get it. He then exclaimed. “That would never happen to me, they would ID me etc.” - It is little things like this, and more then have contributed to how much I have learned and still am learning about the difference the way we are treated vs. people of color.

Showing up

The reason I protest is because I understand that this fight is deeper than I. It is a systematic oppression that has been going on generations and those before me whom have fought to get to where we are today did not do it in vain. I know that my voice is one that will be amplified because I do not sit back and accept the injustices that are happening to my brothers and sisters of color daily. And continuing to happen.

The things I do as an Ally is call out the people, I know any affiliate myself with, and those who I work with on a professional basis. I have called out many people with platforms greater than I. Recently one posted a “just breathe” article. I exclaimed to them with over a million followers how dare they use this especially when the mantra to Floyd is “I can’t breathe” or how I educate the people on my list who constantly berate me about how all these protests are about looting. I was on the front lines documenting the truth. Showing the peaceful protests vs. the anarchists who took any opportunity to riot and destroy.

Sharing black media and photo stocks throughout my media exposure in my corporate job is a small way I integrate things into how society should really be. Most of my peers expect black culture to assimilate to their way of living. Or to cater to their understandings and I cannot stand this. We call out companies who use black culture as a prop to make their ego feel diverse. I have single handedly changed the culture of the place I work from an all-white company whom marginalized the manufacturing crew to hiring multiple races. There are still battles that exist in my day to day fight.

My ongoing work

My newest mission is to create a page, or source to have readily available to the general public. Almost like a background check for companies and people who choose to stand on the side of racism, bias, oppression, and or willful ignorance.

Some of these people in power or whom run businesses have a sort of cognitive bias and use it to systematically keep others in their place via their relationships. In turn making it harder for anyone else to live in peace.