"Black advocate Jedidiah Brown hanging with his barber just around the corner from his home near 79th St. on Chicago's South Side in the summer of 2017. There are a million tragedies that happen in these communities every day in America. Evictions, police shootings, interpersonal violence, mysterious deaths, disappearances, human trafficking – to just name a few. Most go unsolved and are often not even fully investigated. Life at the bottom in America just isn’t easy. There is often no recourse for people who are poor and unseen. The people who are fighting for folks like George Floyd or Breonna Taylor or Kenneka Jenkins are the people who live in the communities and who understand from past experience that no one else will show up unless they do. This is the other side of the American Dream." (Sia Pineschi)

"Jedidiah Brown protests with Kenneka Jenkins’ sister Leonore Harris outside the Crowne Plaza hotel in September of 2017.  

Jedidiah has been deeply involved in advocacy for more than a decade in Chicago. But he is not alone. Thousands of young people are in Jedidiah’s shoes and fighting a daily unseen battle to survive – and these injustices extend far beyond Chicago. This film tells the story of this particular man, but also tells a bigger story of how young African-American men in their late 20s and early 30s struggle to confront generational trauma by trying to build a sustainable life in a place where their very existence is in jeopardy. The emotional toll of this constant struggle is rarely discussed." (Sia Pineschi)

"Jedidiah Brown at the Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) headquarters on Chicago's South Side. In 1971 the Reverend Jesse Jackson and other residents of the South Side founded Operation Push after a well-known split with Reverend Abernathy's Operation Breadbasket. With its headquarters located on Chicago's South Side and branches throughout the United States, Operation PUSH has been an important part of Black life in America. Brown and the many other young leaders around the world are the current generation of changers who are fighting for Black Liberation."(Sia Pineschi, curator)

"Jedidiah Brown preaching on a Sunday morning at the Quarry in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood on the South Side. Jedidiah was raised in a deeply religious family and has been preaching for a good portion of his life. After the death of his cousin Travis, who he helped to raise, Jedidiah experienced a crisis of faith. Today he believes but is no longer preaching in the church." (Sia Pineschi, curator)

"Chicago South Side activists Jedidiah Brown and Lamon Reccord Facebook Livestream from protests on behalf of Kenneka Jenkins, a 19-year-old girl who went to a party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, and disappeared for 36 hours before being found dead in a walk-in freezer in one of the hotel’s restaurants. The mystery captured the imaginations of people throughout Chicago and the United States in the fall of 2017. An autopsy report from the Cook County medical examiner's office concluded that Jenkins had died of hypothermia, with alcohol and a drug used to treat epilepsy and migraines as “significant contributing factors.” The report said her body showed no signs of trauma other than a scrape and bruise on her right leg. But many who protested and followed the event still believe that foul play was involved in her death." (Sia Pineschi)

"Jedidiah Brown rides the school bus that he organized and paid for with donations raised through Facebook Live requests in an effort to transport protestors to the Crowne Plaza hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, just outside of Chicago for the Kenneka Jenkins protest. 

There’s a lot of hard, unpaid invisible labor in advocacy. You see people protesting in the streets, but a lot goes on behind the scenes that no one sees. Jedidiah shows up for families that have experienced extreme violence and trauma. In Chicago’s poor, Black communities, the social system is designed to segregate and deny people access to the larger society. Jed shows up in situations of tragedy and discord and tries to mediate between the people and a system that is deeply unfair and often hurts them. He’s just a guy who’s tried to get involved with other people’s lives in an effort to help them because most of the time, no one will." (Sia Pineschi)

"Jedidiah Brown has been doing Facebook Lives to communicate with his audience for more than five years. This photograph was taken while Jedidiah was advocating on behalf of Kenneka Jenkins, who was found dead in a freezer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. The protests were sanctioned by Thereasa Martin, Kenneka's mother, but ultimately fell apart without bringing answers. The protest was eventually called off by Thereasa." (Sia Pineschi)

“I was born in this country. It’s the only country I’ve ever known. And you’ve got two choices. You can either complain about it, or you can change it. I’m not much for complaining.”  The cost of advocating for other people has been high for Jedidiah Brown. In 2017, Jedidiah almost took his own life after years of fighting the system. Luckily, he survived. And today he’s a far stronger and more powerful advocate for Black liberation.

"Photograph of Jedidiah Brown taking a moment of reflection during his day at a local South Side church. Jedidiah is a South Side community member and activist who has spent the past decade fighting for change in the city of Chicago and throughout the United States." (Sia Pineschi)

"Black activist Lamon Reccord protests on 47th Street in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. He wrapped the Pan-African flag or Black Liberation flag around his head as part of a statement in support of a boycott of a beauty supply store that had allegedly abused several patrons earlier that year. Lamon came to national prominence during protests in support for Laquan McDonald – a young man who was shot 16 times and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014." (Sia Pineschi, curator)