Mayor Helen Tran poses for a portrait in her office in San Bernardino on February 7, 2023. Tran is the first woman of Vietnamese descent to become mayor in the nation, and the first Asian American mayor in San Bernardino’s history. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local).
Shanita poses for a portrait at the Bill Pickett Rodeo on July 17, 2022. Her husband introduced her to the rodeo over 15 years ago and she’s attended every year since. In 2021 she lost her husband to COVID-19. She said it's difficult being at the rodeo without him but she feels uplifted by the environment and everyone’s kindness. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
A family begins to cry as Yvonne Trice (right), founder of A Mother’s Voice, leads the group of protesters in a prayer outside of the San Bernardino Juvenile Justice Court on November 16, 2022. The family was leaving the Juvenile Court when they encountered the group speaking about the challenges of losing custody of their children to CPS. The family spoke with organizers who gave them signs to hold to join the protest. (Aryana Noroozi, Black Voice News / CatchLight Local).
Famo Musa’s nieces prepare decorations in a hotel room to surprise Musa, 31, the night before her wedding on December 23, 2021. The next day Musa married her second husband. At age 18, Musa had been arranged to marry her cousin after graduating high school. She said it never occurred to her to say no. After the wedding, he would disappear for months at a time visiting his second wife. Following the birth of their first child, Musa went to school to pursue her associate’s degree, despite his attempts to prevent her with verbal and financial control. After four years she left her then-husband, despite discovering that she was pregnant with his second child. For almost a decade, Musa said the question of marriage was a deal breaker when talking to someone. However, years of friendship that evolved into a relationship with her now-husband led to their wedding on December 24, 2021. (Aryana Noroozi © 2021)
Clouds cover the sky in Pekin, Illinois on April 3, 2022. Jenny Justice says growing up, she considered her community a pretty decent place, but now she just wants to run from it. She thinks addiction here can be attributed to poverty and mental health issues in a community facing disinvestment and loss of jobs. (Photo © Aryana Noroozi 2022)
On April 2, 2022, Justice holds the sweatshirt Rodgers was wearing the night of her death. She keeps it in the overnight bag her daughter packed for the night she fatally overdosed in November 2020. The police returned the items to Justice. (Photo © Aryana Noroozi 2022)
Noemi Silva poses for a portrait after voting at the Frank Dominguez Elementary School polling site in San Bernardino on November 8, 2022. She said she votes every year and enjoys casting her ballot in person. (Aryana Noroozi, Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib looks across the U.S. Mexico border wall as she meets with deported veterans during her visit to Friendship Park in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on December 23, 2019. ©Aryana Noroozi
Dr. Coleman works the computer that she uses to perform patient ultrasounds on February 2, 2022. Coleman is an Obstetrician and is currently training as a fellow at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center to become a high risk specialist. Her experience growing up in rural Alabama where she witnessed her family travel hours to see a physician and struggle to receive appropriate care, especially while pregnant, empowered her to pursue medicine. She says if she could give a message to providers across the nation when it comes to maternal healthcare, it would be to listen to the patients and heavily take into account their background and experiences because they affect patient health. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News /CatchLight Local).
An Amazon truck edges ahead of a Walmart truck as they drive in between California State Route 60 west and Interstate 215 north in Ontario on April 4, 2023. Once known for its dairy farming, Ontario will soon be home to the largest Amazon warehouse in the world. The Ontario International Airport contains runways partly for Amazon’s transport of goods in and out. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Jadie David at the LA Equestrian Center in Burbank, California. Photograph: (Aryana Noroozi/The Guardian)
Jessica Mabson holds her four month old son, Ennis on April 5, 2023. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Black Voice News portrait photographer Benoit Malphettes poses for a portrait in his home studio on November 9, 2022, beside his technical camera that he used to shoot the photographs for “Open To Your Interpretation,” his exhibition featured at the San Bernardino County Museum. For this series, Malphettes photographed odd objects he collected over the years. “(Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Staff at the San Bernardino Registrar of Voters verify ballot signatures of San Bernardino County voters using protocol to identify and compare two points of verification of signatures. (Aryana Noroozi, Black Voice News Newsroom / CatchLight Local, November 2, 2022).
Famo Musa gets her makeup done by her family members as they celebrate the night before her wedding on December 23, 2021. Musa met her now-husband through Facebook and they were friends for years before their relationship. Musa was married to her first husband at age 18 and they divorced years later. “They didn't believe that I left for real,” said Musa about her community. She says they told her, “‘Women are not meant to be single. Your sole purpose on Earth is to reproduce.’” (Aryana Noroozi © 2021)
Daniel’s mother, Lauren Taylor-Mayweather, holds a football-shaped urn containing Daniel’s ashes on July 29, 2022. Football was one of Daniel’s passions and he was an “outstanding” linebacker and teammate for Victorville’s Silverado High School. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
María washes kitchen rags in a lavadero in her backyard on March 2, 2023. She said the lavadero and her yard among other things in the family home remind her of her home in Chiapas, Mexico. Years ago, her family moved from Los Angeles to Bloomington, seeking a more tranquil life. Since warehouses started popping up across the community, she said that she experiences frequent discomfort in her throat. “It feels like they're closing us in and restricting the flow of air,” she said. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Famo Musa sits on the stage at her wedding while relatives take her photo on December 24, 2021. Musa, a Somalian refugee, challenged the narrative commonly set for women within her community by leaving her first arranged marriage and studying at UC San Diego. “It's all about choice and doing something because it's for you,” she said. “It's something that you want to do, not something that your dead ancestors ask you that you have to do because you are a woman.” Musa remarried to her now-husband after years of friendship and a relationship that she chose. (Aryana Noroozi © 2021)