Paola Mendoza Explains the "I Am a Child" Protest Photos

On June 5, activist Paola Mendoza tweeted a black-and-white photo of 40 children between the ages of 3 and 10 holding up signs that read: “I am a child.”

The photograph, which was taken by Kisha Bari, is a response to the Trump administration’s decision to separate migrants and their children. Jeff Sessions made it clear that the administration intends to separate families as part of its attempt to prosecute undocumented parents crossing the border. The Justice Department announced in April that it would be enforcing a “zero-tolerance policy” for border crossers.

“As a mother, artist and activist, I am inspired to take action by the critical situation that immigrant children find themselves in,” Mendoza said in a statement. “We hope to remind Americans that all children are human beings and are all of our responsibility.”

“The situation for immigrants in the past two years particularly has been pretty atrocious,” Mendoza told Teen Vogue in an interview. “The dehumanization of immigrants and particularly undocumented immigrants is in full force through the entire administration.”

The photos may have been inspired by Trump administration policies, but the images themselves also pay homage to the 1968 “I am a man” protest, when black men working as sanitation and sewage workers in Memphis, Tennessee, went on strike during the civil rights movement. Mendoza explained to Teen Vogue that she was inspired by that strike; from there, the project was adapted for the issue at hand.

“For me, having children involved in a safe political protest is very natural to me,” Mendoza told Teen Vogue. She said she considers it her job as an artist "to try and open the heart of America."

“When the Attorney General Sessions says, ‘If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law,’ it is clear that the American public must be reminded that this policy, which is being enacted in their name, is hurting children,” Mendoza wrote in her statement. “Regardless of a child’s immigration status, they are still just a child. Regardless of where they are coming from, they still maintain their basic human rights that must be respected.”