Black Robes – White Justice. Supreme Court Manhattan. Circa 1997 © Jamel Shabazz
After serving his time in the army, a 20-year-old Jamel Shabazz returned to his native New York. It was 1980, and Shabazz had taken up the practice of street photography as a means to connect with young men and women throughout the city. He used his lens to engage with strangers who caught his eye, speaking with them about the power of choosing the righteous path in life. After they finished their conversation, he would take their portrait to document this moment in time, creating an archive of work that taken the world by storm since Shabazz first began publishing his work in The Source magazine and exhibiting in Paris during the late 90s.
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The author of eight books including A Time Before Crack, Seconds of My Life (powerHouse Books, 2005 and 2007) and Sights in the City (Damiani, 2017), Shabazz is dedicated to depicting the complexities of contemporary life, capturing the triumphs and tragedies of everyday people trying to survive, and sharing stories rarely seen from the inside looking out.
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What Shabazz has witnessed and lived goes beyond what most people know both of his work and of life itself. Shabazz joined the New York Corrections Department at the tender age of 23 in 1983, working on Rikers Island, in the Manhattan Criminal Court building, and in mental health facilities. He served the full 20 years on the force with the understanding that he could best help his community working within the belly of the beast.
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As a corrections officer, Shabazz bore witness to the devastating impact of the crack epidemic during the 1980s and 90s, when African-American and Latinx communities were disproportionately impacted by the vicious cycle of addiction, violence, and incarceration under the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws which destroyed families and devastated a new generation coming-of-age. At the same time, he had to negotiate the reality for black men and women inside the penal system, where injustice and racism often went hand-in-hand.
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With the understanding that he was fulfilling a personal calling, Shabazz mentored countless inmates, always keeping the faith despite being in a volatile environment where injustice, violence, and trauma were a regular part of the job. Photography became a means for Shabazz to decompress and reconnect with himself, the people, and the environment – both within and outside of Rikers Island – and became a form of visual medicine to help heal the injured and protect the vulnerable from harm.
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Below, Shabazz, who was recently honoured with a 2018 Gordon Parks Foundation Award, speaks with us about his experiences as a New York Corrections Officer.
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House of pain. 4 Upper House © Jamel Shabazz