{"id":5472,"date":"2025-12-20T17:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T17:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5472"},"modified":"2025-12-20T17:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T17:14:14","slug":"am-i-next-protest-art-in-downtown-la-boldly-asks-whos-safe-from-ice-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5472","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Am I Next?\u2019 protest art in downtown LA boldly asks who\u2019s safe from ICE | Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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E<\/span>ach evening, drivers on the busy 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles<\/a> pass billboard-size portraits of Angelenos that flash across the side of a building with a simple message next to their faces: Am I Next?<\/p>\n

Three Los Angeles institutions have teamed up to launch a response to federal immigration raids in the nation\u2019s second-largest city, projecting illuminated images<\/a> of everyday LA residents in support of the thousands of community members who have been detained this year.<\/p>\n

Part of a protest art project entitled Am I Next?<\/a>, the striking black and white images began appearing nightly on 6 November on the facades of the downtown buildings of the California Community Foundation<\/a>, LA Plaza Cultura y Artes and the Japanese American National Museum in objection to the undermining of democratic norms and attacks on civil liberties.<\/p>\n

Along with projecting portraits of Angelenos, Am I Next? highlights brief stories of people, including US citizens, accosted and snatched out of homes, cars, workplaces and the streets by federal agents, under the word \u201cTaken\u201d:<\/p>\n

Mauricio, waiting for a bus.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rosalina, at home with her children.<\/em><\/p>\n

Juan, on lunch break from his construction job.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>\u2018We\u2019re putting up a mirror to what is happening.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of the California Community Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The campaign addresses the fear and trauma<\/a> millions have experienced since Donald Trump and his administration began its violent and militarized approach to immigration enforcement in June<\/a> \u2013 one that\u2019s changed day-to-day life in a city where nearly half of its residents are Latino.<\/p>\n

It also asks the question: if fellow residents are arrested without consideration of constitutional rights, then who is really safe?<\/p>\n

\u201cI carry my passport around, which I never imagined as a native Angeleno,\u201d said Miguel Santana, president and chief executive of California<\/a> Community Foundation, or CalFund. \u201cI know people who are afraid to leave their homes, who don\u2019t go shopping at Home Depot \u2013 because it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a US citizen or not. We\u2019re putting up a mirror to what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 65,000<\/a> immigrants across the US are confined in federal detention, a two-thirds increase since January, and recent data shows that 74% of those in custody have no criminal convictions.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>\u2018The photos draw contrast to the cowardice of the masked men who hide their faces because they know what they\u2019re doing is wrong.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of the California Community Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few of the faces in Am I Next? are familiar: the veteran actors and activists Edward James Olmos and George Takei, who was incarcerated as a five-year-old boy during the second world war, and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass. The dozens of others are LA residents who Pulitzer-winning photographer Barbara Davidson<\/a> met throughout city neighborhoods such as East LA, Venice and Echo Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome were too nervous to participate because they, or a family member, were in the process of becoming citizens and didn\u2019t want to risk jeopardizing their application,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cOthers were eager to take a stand against the ICE raids.\u201d<\/p>\n

A dedicated website<\/a> allows people to submit their own photos in a show of solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe photos draw contrast to the cowardice of the masked men who hide their faces because they know what they\u2019re doing is wrong,\u201d said Santana, whose own portrait appears on CalFund\u2019s building, which is visible from City Hall and walking distance from ICE\u2019s downtown LA detention center. \u201cCourage is the best antidote to authoritarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Japanese American community<\/a>, the use of force, dehumanization tactics, lack of due process and the racist targeting of immigrants feels all too familiar.<\/p>\n

The Japanese American National Museum, or JANM, in historic Little Tokyo is not only a nightly canvas for protest art, but was where more than 37,000 Japanese Americans from Los Angeles boarded buses for American concentration camps in 1942. It\u2019s also where about 75 armed federal agents conducted an immigration raid<\/a> in August, during a news conference event with Gavin Newsom, a sight that caused widespread outrage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s at the heart of this campaign is a reminder to people that when we protect the rights of anyone in our community, we are really protecting the rights for everyone, including ourselves,\u201d said James Herr, director of the Democracy Center at JANM. \u201cThe same kind of xenophobia, fear, prejudice and racism that Japanese Americans faced during world war two is what our current immigrant populations are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Projections on a building as part of We Belong Here, a public art installation project, in Los Angeles on 16 October 2025.<\/span> Photograph: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JANM\u2019s evening projections also incorporate images of former incarcerated people with Angelenos standing against ICE raids.<\/p>\n

At the nearby LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, over 30 large-scale digital images and neon from 10 LA-based artists, including Brandy Gonz\u00e1lez, Lalo Alcar\u00e1z and Patrick Martinez are on view in addition to images from Am I Next? The bold and colorful works, entitled We Belong Here<\/a>, reflect the immigrant experience and call for justice with messages such as \u201cInvest in the oppressed\u201c and \u201cIt is the weak who are cruel\u201d.<\/p>\n

More institutions in Los Angeles and Long Beach plan to host Am I Next? on their walls, and Santana said he\u2019s heard from colleagues in San Francisco and New York who are looking to project similar images to bring awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe violent way in which [immigration enforcement] is happening really needs to be exposed and not normalized,\u201d said Santana, who said the project will run indefinitely. \u201cWe will keep it going until we can all sleep at night knowing that our core American constitutional rights are not going to be violated. We\u2019re living in a moment where every American has to decide if those rights apply to all of us or some of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n