“I wanted to be a firefighter ever since I was 5 years old. What sparked it was, my dad bought me one of those little push, red pedal cars. I use to attach the water hose to it, and I would go around and water my mom’s plants with my little pedal car. Yeah, and my dad was a mechanic and he would always want me to help him and I was like,”no that’s not what I want to do. I don’t want to get my hands dirty,” not realizing that firefighters get their hands dirty. He told me, “Boy, you better go to school and learn a trade…”
We lived a couple blocks from the fire station, and I would see the firefighters out there all together washing this big old truck and just laughing and having a good time, and I was like, “Now, that’s what I want to do for my job.” And then I pursued it.
(Toney was a firefighter for 27 years. He continued…)
We had a Black fire chief and race still was a component.
I was at the fire station with this one guy, and every time we would go out to a call he was like, “Damn, I can’t believe those…” and he wouldn’t say the N word. He would say ‘nickels.’ “I can’t believe those nickels.” And he was talking about the people that needed fire rescue, and needed help! You know, they were African-American.
When we went to other races, he didn’t say anything like that. So, I approached him and I was like, “Bro. Why do you keep calling people ‘nickels?’ Is that your way of saying, you know “nigga?” And he’s said, “You know, they’re always out there begging for a nickel, and they’re Black and…” I said, “You know, stop it. And if you don’t stop it, I will report it.”
And he said, “Oh now, you want to play the Black Card?” I was like, “No. I want to play the Human Card.”
Toney - 53, Retired Firefighter, Rehab Counselor, City Council Member (Duarte,CA)
I ask you, “why?”
I watched the video. I saw the life of George Floyd fade away in the most inhumane and frustrating way imaginable. I am African-American. I am human. It hurt. The overall condition of our country hurt my heart in May of 2020. I have been a photographer for over a decade and I asked God what I could do to positively contribute to society and respond to the current chapter of our country’s racial injustices. After two days of thought and prayer, I moved forward with The Black Portraits.
The Black Portraits is a nonprofit, ongoing portrait photography project focused on one simple goal: sharing the positive images, thoughts, stories and dreams of members of the Black community in Los Angeles, CA (and hopefully, eventually beyond).
The project poses and aims to answer the question: why do we have to wait until a shocking national tragedy to hear about the lives and accomplishments of our Black friends, neighbors, or those we do not know? We are alive and contributing right now.
I look forward to photographing more, receiving more, and posting many more images and stories of our infinitely valuable Black community. The Black Portraits currently resides on the Instagram and Facebook social media platforms.
Links:
Instagram - www.instagram.com/theblackportraits/
Facebook - www.facebook.com/theblackportraits.la/
On this site, mallurypatrick.com, I will continue to build a gallery of images containing all the participants with a link to their content on either Instagram or Facebook.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy The Black Portraits.
[Click on an image below to be taken to a social media page containing the story or quote of the participant.]
