"I was born in Trinidad & Tobago, a land located in the West Indies near Venezuela where almost everyone looked like myself — racism was not something I had to deal with, unlike my fellow black Americans. I came to America in 1972 and quickly had a rude awakening to racism as me and my brother went to a local grocery chain SUPER SAVERS. We were grabbed on the way out by the manager and the police were called because he claimed he saw us put several pieces of steak up under our raincoats. He claimed to have actually eye-witnessed this, but when cops came, we had absolutely nothing on us (nor did we ever have anything on us.)
There was our first introduction to what black Americans were speaking and protesting about, being mistreated and profiled while being constantly lied to by racist white Americans who hated them just because of their skin color. Man, this was painful. I began to experience this sort of racial attack on a regular basis - being stopped in stores, followed around malls, falsely detained by police saying I fit the description of an African American they are looking for — and of course, they are checking me out because I am black.
Pushing forward to now, as I am an artist/photographer with a voice to express my pain, a pain most African Americans feel deep inside but thank God, I have this creative outlet to express my feelings to show the world. Politics is secondary to me, as I want to give voice to the inner person to be heard. I hope my work here inspires you to pick up a camera or some form of creative expression and share it with those around you."
ABOUT
Leigh Busby is a photographer and artist from Trinidad & Tobago, now a resident of New Haven for the last five years. Busby has been a prolific photographer throughout his time in New Haven, largely zeroing in on documentation of sociopolitical issues and protests in the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.