Though Memorial Day has passed, the city of Dallas still makes a valiant effort to honor those who have served for this nation. Most underappreciated perhaps are the countless Black veterans whose stories go untold. Veterans of color are not only overlooked in their experiences, but are also subject to more challenges than their white counterparts.
Systemic racism, mental health issues, homophobia and sexism are all amplified for veterans of color. These are the stories you don’t hear on Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day. These are the stories that go unheard if no one is willing to give voice to this marginalized community.
That’s where Dallas College students Keith Vinson, NiEtta Reynolds, Tarik Warren, and Alex Leffall come in.
These students, with the help of Dallas College photography program, were able to take the harrowing and inspiring stories of local veterans of color and manifest a meaningful tapestry of their experiences. The exhibition “Honor Endures” will premiere tomorrow, June 5 with an opening reception at The Cliff Gallery at Dallas College Mountain View Campus. The event starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are available here.
Dallas Weekly had the privilege of discussing the triumphs and tribulations behind drafting and creating such a poignant exhibition. The students were able to share some of the stories behind the lens for DW, as they delved into the importance of highlighting the voices of veterans of color. The end result of their laborious efforts is a short documentary and exhibition featuring stunning portraits, candid interviews, and skillful environmental photography. However, it is apparent the real achievement of this exhibition is seen in the sharing of testimony of the veterans.
Inspiring Honor
Dallas Weekly: Thank you all for joining me today. Let’s dive right in. What inspired you guys to focus on the untold stories of veterans of color? What prompted this project?
Keith Vinson: Yeah, so we’ve been in class, connected for the last two years now. The four of us have been working in and out on different projects throughout that time. Our professor, Jesse Hornbuckle, was really a big inspiration to us. He always encouraged our collaboration and work.
And so when this opportunity came about through the City of Dallas to get a project potentially funded, we began to search through some different ideas, and we made a connection with Operation Tiny Homes. And Alex had been working with them on some projects previously.
Well, Valerie Ballard, who’s the CEO over there, is just a great community partner to work with. We knew that they were looking for some things in terms of just trying to beef up programming. And I thought they were just kind of this hidden gem over in the back of Southern Oak Cliff! So we talked to Valerie over there, and she had agreed to come together.
When you think about veterans, it comes from that place of, “Man, they’ve done so much for our country that we just don’t know about.” And being in a system such as the military, it is one that has untold stories, because they’re all connected to one theme of brotherhood, sisterhood, but yet everybody doesn’t have an equal platform.
Alex and I were able to talk to them directly to prepare for the documentary part. It was amazing. Some consistencies in the stories came about. And so when we begin to talk about race, you know, each of them could identify with that. So from our Vietnam vets that we talked to, to individuals who recently got out of the military, there was some consistency.
DW: That’s interesting. Turning to you now, Alex, what got you into this project? Does it touch base personally with you?
Alex Leffall: So this project actually, it means a lot to me. My grandpa faced homelessness. I remember when I was little, my mom, our family, we used to pack lunch bags and go to downtown Dallas and drop them off to the homeless. And we remember seeing my grandpa on the streets. And my mom was shocked! She was just like, “Why is he on the streets?”
When I was presented with this opportunity, I was like, “I gotta take it.” Papa was the first person that popped up in my mind when I thought about this. So I’m just, honestly, I’m just very honored just to be able to help and put something like this together. I couldn’t have done it without my colleagues.
It really hit home to me when this project was brought up. The fact that I was able to edit it and put it together, I had to just kind of show the respect and the honor that I have for veterans. Especially like my granddad, my stepdad, my brother in law, they’re all veterans, and each of them have their own different experiences when it comes to their time in the military.
So this was a big opportunity that I’ve seen could really shed some light on a situation that has been this kind of swept under the rug or just put over to the side. I just want to be able to use my gifts and my skills to shed light on the situation. That way, people can see this story and speak up about it. They might have some friends that are veterans or in the military that are dealing with experiences like this that they just don’t know who to talk to. Once they hear and see a documentary like this, maybe they can find the courage to speak up, to be able to help that person in need.
NiEtta Reynolds: Well, you know, it was something different. Keith offered me a place I’ve never been before to make me get outside my comfort zone and so, and also, I wanted to be able to tell someone else’s story, you know? And I was like, why not? I thought it was a great idea. And I think it’s important for people to know what’s going on, especially with people of color in our military and I thought it was, I thought it was courageous of Keith to do this, this project.
I was very honored that he even asked me to be a part of it. Especially doing it with Alex and Tarik, two extremely amazing photographers. I was like, “Why not?” Why not help someone tell a story? Why not allow people to understand how mental health is on the horizon, especially in our military? The things [veterans and those currently serving] have to go through to keep it, to keep their sanity, the stories that were told- they’re important.
I guess that’s why I’m a huge mental health advocate. I think it’s so important for people to tell their stories about their journey in mental health and how it affects them. This project allowed me to fulfill a little bit of myself as well, to be able to help tell someone else’s story about their mental health journey.
DW: That’s wonderful. Tarik, anything you want to add about what this project means to you?
Tarik Warren: Well, my daughter just left for the Navy a few years ago, and listening to some of the stories from the veterans, my daughter can relate with things she’s told me. She said it’s very racist. She’s down in Virginia and she agrees with the messages from the documentary that I referred to her. She agrees that it’s, it’s very racist. She said it’s only gotten worse since the boogeyman is in the White House. Yeah, she’s down to her last three months, and she’s looking for work elsewhere.
DW: Well, hopefully she will find better employment. I’m sorry to hear that.
Dallas College: Opening Doors and Amplifying Voices
DW: Dallas has a very rich military history, as you well know. It’s also got a vibrant art scene and history. So, as media and photography students, at Dallas College, how does your Dallas College experience or expertise change or shape the way that you guys approached this project?
KV: Yeah, we’re going to lean lightly on the expertise, because, as you see, the topic of this is student-led. We’re all on our learning journey, and have really been inspired by each other, you know. So I look at T’s [Tarik’s] work, man, when he was just taking the pictures of the veterans of just phenomenal, the way it just popped.
I brag about Dallas college from the lens of providing this inspiration for you. In my case, that has been there for years, but now this opportunity to be involved in the class, being connected with our professor, has just really opened my eyes up to a passion that I’ve had deep inside.
Now I’m crafting this thing, and it’s coming to this place of entrepreneurship that’s built in there, and also storytelling. To be able to tell this particular story to other veterans is really powerful. The Virginia Beach area is home for me, so it’s surrounded by the military. You know, all my life, my father, he was in the military, but you know, this is deep. We’re featuring different people and hearing those outcomes.
And we weren’t necessarily seeking all of this. It did have a lens on the blind spots. And those sort of blind spots were “What are those things that we don’t know?” And so we asked these big questions to everyone, to hear the veterans from Vietnam in the stories that they’re told. They just give snippets because they don’t want to go too deep, because of the traumatic experience that they have.
Dallas College has opened up that door for us to dive into a project like this and be able to shed some light on that story. Now it’s opened my mind to this place of, “Man, what’s the next story that I could tell?”
DW: Right. And that’s amazing that Dallas College offers that level of support. Alex, anything you want to add to that?
AL: Yeah, definitely. I love Dallas College, the community, how everybody there is always willing to help, how they’re willing to serve. It’s honestly different from any other campus that I’ve ever been to. It’s just a unique experience with the people there. They’re able to open their doors for us to be able to put this project together, while knowing this project is more on the controversial side when it comes to the military. But Dallas College was willing to help. Like Keith said, we’re all on this learning journey together. We’re just trying to learn what we’re capable of.
At Dallas College, we use our skills to not only just build each other, but also to create a community. I’m just really thankful when people at Dallas College that were just willing to help us through this journey, and shed light on the situation that’s going on.
TW: I agree with Alex, nothing to add. I would like to do another project with Dallas College like this. I want to tell the stories we heard that we didn’t get to record. Between the portrait shots and Keith and Alex interview process, there’s gaps. There’s stories in there, and Keith knows what I’m talking about. There’s bits and pieces. I got a lot of photos, you know, but it’s that dialog that we missed.
KV: Yeah, you’ll get some of that. I was able to add some stories to the images on the wall, so each of the photos that you’ll see at the exhibit has a story to go along with it. And so you’ll get some of that. But it’s still, it’s still not that. I try to get it as authentic to their voice as possible, literally kind of word for word, to put those stories next to the polls. But it’s still, like T said, some of those just natural conversations that we’re having that were really good.
Director’s Cut: Untold Stories of Honor
DW: I want to ask next if you all had a particularly chilling or super impactful story that you wanted to share that didn’t make it into the exhibition.,
TW: I do. It was during one of the portrait sessions. We were waiting on Alex and Keith to finish the interview portion. We were sitting in there, and one of the guys was telling us about him growing up in his adolescent years, and how he went from the East down to the South with some cousins. And it was still kind of Jim Crow at the time.
He was telling us how he mouthed off at a white man and his cousin left on the horse. They had to run back and send him back up East, because he knew that they [the white people] were going to come to that house and get him. I’m just paraphrasing, but that’s how the story went.
So it was one of those moments where I’m glad to be an 80s baby. Yeah, I don’t think I would have made it back then. I mean, there’s some that’s just one of the stories I heard. There’s many more. That’s just one that draws me to where I got chills. I know we kind of deal with racism now, but it was different for them then.
DW: Alex, anything to share?
AL: I don’t want to steal anybody’s story. Keith, I’m going to talk about Art. I don’t know if he was going to talk about Mr. Martin.
KV: Yeah, go for it! I had another one that I was going to share.
AL: Arthur Martin. He served, I think, Vietnam War.
He had somebody working under him named Podge. And Podge’s grandmother died while he was serving in his time in the military, and pretty much, they treated Podge like crap. They wouldn’t let him go home to go to his grandmother’s funeral, and he kept begging. He literally was begging him like, “Please, let me go home so I can see my grandmother buried,” and they would not let him go home. Podge one day just lost it.
One day he got a M16 with 40 round clip seven-two, and cut the commander and somebody else in half. And he took somebody as a hostage while working. So they’re hearing this all on the radio. “Oh, he was trying to get permission to go back home to see his grandmother, but they were so strict and hard on him and he didn’t have the opportunity to go home.”
And [before this incident] there were times where Podge was just trying to release stress, and depression. He would use the military van, to go out and just be. The commander at the time was trying to give him an Article 15, which is pretty much just like a write up in the military.
Podge was like, “Why are you giving me article 15? I asked for permission. I’m not misappropriating a government vehicle. I’m not doing any of these things. I just need to, you know, just let me be by myself, because it’s a hard time for me.”
He was grieving, and they wouldn’t let him grieve. They honestly didn’t care about him grieving, job or otherwise. And so, he lost it. He got an M16 and killed the commander. Had somebody else hostage. And while all this was going on, Podge was saying that he had three days until he could go back to the country. All this was happening while he had only three days left!
While he had the hostage, he said “Don’t nobody come near me. If you come here, I’m gonna kill. I’m a killer.” And Mr. Martin went up to him.
Arthur Martin was the only person to walk up to Podge to calm him down. When he walked up to him. He was like, “Put the gun down. You’re better than that, talk to me. What’s going on?” He grabbed him. Podge was like, “They made me cry,” and when I heard that, I knew stories like that just don’t go away.
KV: So I’ll bring you a story. One of my veterans talks about how an individual came up to him who used to be into [white power] skinheads. And he explained to him why skinheads wear white shoestrings in their boots. But he’s talking to him as if they’re friends or buddies or something. The contrast is- you gotta do this in order to build trust. Because the same person that’s telling him that story, he has to have their back. And that person has to have his back!
So you’re sitting here with these two opposing forces: you know you’ve got Blacks, whites, racism, you know. But yet, when it all comes down to it, if we all have to go to the battlefield, you have to trust the other person. How do you get over the fact of trusting someone who doesn’t like you and then you’ve got to potentially fight side-by-side? It’s crazy hearing these stories and hearing these two opposite sides but you’ve still got to be on the same team.
I tried to align that with sports in a way. You’ve got all these players coming from all different places but yet you gotta play on the same team with one goal in mind. Even though you may not care for each other, someone’s gotta bring all of that together. It still rattles my mind, like, “Here’s someone I know that I may not trust at all, but I still gotta fight for them.”
DW: That’s powerful. NiEtta, would you like to jump in?
NiEtta Reynolds: Yeah, I was really enjoying doing the photography and the portraiture for “Honor Endures.” The stories that really sat out to me were those of the women. If you know the statistics, one in every five women is raped in the United States, okay? So you have to think about that when women are in the Army, especially women of color.
With one woman, we had a conversation before I started doing the photos. She explained to me how she was violated and how she just had to kind of just take it. It was just hard. It was disheartening. You know, my heart went out to her, and so when I did the photos of her, and especially the young ladies, I wanted to surround them with calmness. Their life has been hard; they’ve had to fight to dispel chaos.
In doing her particular photo, I wanted to make it as calm as possible. I know how it feels to be violated. And so when I took her photo, I took it in consideration, and I wanted to take her particular photo with a place of peace, and not look at her as a victim, but look at her as a survivor.
When I took her photo, that’s how I could kind of visualize it, the pain and suffering she went through. She was raped by her family member, she’s been taking advantage of her whole life, you know. And she went into the army, a place that you’re supposed to be protected, and she was not.
And so you know that that really stood out to me within the stories. I think everybody had a beautiful story. I was proud to take everyone’s photo, every man, every man that served our country. But the women, I was in a lot more of a place of sorrow, you know.
When we were in the studio at the school and took a photo of the women together, you could just see the power of their embrace. They weren’t in the same unit, but you could see a place of love, collaboration, to each other, admiration. It was like silently saying, “We survived this thing. We did this. We got out.”
More Of Our Stories On The Frontline
DW: That’s really beautiful. I was wondering if any of you would share a final word of something you hope that exhibition attendees will walk away with.
KV: I want people to know more about the kind of the deep experiences that our people of color, who are in the military have experienced, and what those who are still in the service are experiencing today.
Yet, there’s still this part of these proud Americans and one clip that doesn’t make the documentary is one of the veterans from who served in Vietnam. He stated that. He said, “I don’t care how you look at it, you know, all these other countries, that America still is the best place.”
And, you know, it’s messy, right? Yes, there are the systemic things that are going on, but yet, here are these benefits that you can get from there. And look back with all the veterans that we spoke with. They got a degree because of the military. We had one of the gentlemen who served in Vietnam. He got seven different degrees from the military. One of the veterans who has his own business now and is certified as a military vet. He’s going back to school to get his master’s degree and to be a social social worker for veterans in mind. And his business that he has is with veterans in mind as his niche clientele.
So all of the veterans of color still deeply care about veterans. They deeply care about the country. And I think at the end of the day, as messy as things are, you know, America still is a great place to be.
TW: I would like to say I would just like to see more stories like this brought to the light of day. I want more spotlight on us. A lot of our stories are swept under the rug. And you know, I just want to see more stories where it just be military, just everyday, homelessness, whatever the case may be. I want more of our stories brought to the forefront.
Dallas Weekly would like to thank Dallas College and students Keith Vinson, NiEtta Reynolds, Tarik Warren, and Alex Leffall for speaking with DW ahead of the exhibition.