Humans of New York: The Humanity In Us All

Humans of New York, or HONY, has revolutionized the ideas of photo-blogging and short story telling. Created by Brandon Stanton, HONY originally began with the goal of collecting 10,000 portraits of people in New York City, and plotting them on a map. However, since its creation in 2010, HONY has transformed into something much different: portraits of people with humanizing, personal, poignant and relatable quotes. Since 2010, HONY has expanded its reach outside of the five boroughs, spending two weeks in Iran in 2012, a week in Boston after the Boston Marathon bombings, a week in Austin, Texas taking photos during the 2014 SXSW Conference and a worldwide trip with the UN traveling to 12 different countries, including Jordan, Israel, South Sudan, Ukraine, India and more. With over 12 million followers on Facebook alone, HONY’s reach expands all over the world, but he always comes back home to NYC.

Usually, HONY seems to float aimlessly around all five boroughs of NYC, capturing images and stories of the wide variety of people who call NYC home. On Jan. 19, 2015, HONY stopped a young boy named Vidal in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and posted two portraits of him. The first portrait’s quote had Vidal discussing what is it like to live in his neighborhood, saying that he has very few fears at this point in his life because of all that he has experienced. He cites how, at age nine, he saw a man get pushed off a building. In the second portrait, HONY asks Vidal who has influenced him most in his life, and Vidal responds that is it his school’s principal, Ms. Lopez of Motts Hall Bridges Academy, who consistently supports her students and reaffirms to them that they each matter. And this is where everything started.

In the past, HONY has supported a select number of interviewees through online fundraising campaigns. These campaigns have included raising money for hard-hit areas following Hurricane Sandy, helping a couple afford to bring home from Ethiopia their adopted daughter’s brother and funding a young boy’s dream to attend horse back riding camp. The Sandy campaign more than tripled its original goal by the end of the fundraiser. The young couple had enough money raised in just an hour and a half and HONY fans raised enough money to send the young boy to camp in only 15 minutes. The Motts Hall campaign, however, beat them all.

Brownsville, Brooklyn, is one of the most underserved communities in NYC, and growing up there is rarely easy. Vidal’s response to the question had many of HONY’s followers begging for a follow up, and HONY obliged. What followed was over two weeks of photo profiling the faculty, staff and students of Motts Hall Bridges Academy, as well as a fundraising campaign that reach humongous proportions.

Initially, HONY and Ms. Lopez set out to raise $100,000 to send students from Motts Hall to visit Harvard University; when that goal was met, additional money went to provide summer programming for the students, many of whom spend most of their summer indoors because of how unsafe the area can be. After followers of HONY raised $700,000, the remaining money went towards a scholarship named the Vidal Scholarship Fund, and the first recipient will be Vidal himself. In total, the campaign raised over $1.4 million dollars, breaking what was initially hoped for by 1,400%. HONY has had such an impact for these students, this school and this community, that it begs the question: is HONY truly activism? Or something else?

HONY and its micro-storytelling, is similar to many of the initiatives being taken on our own campus: The Color Brave Monologues, As Told by Vaginas, and The College Voice’s upcoming event with Narrative 4. These events allow participants to tell their story under the umbrella of the individual event: on gender, on race, on privilege. But these events are specific, and their focus never strays from this mission. HONY, on the other hand, gives a wide array of people a moment to tell their story, and their story may not even be more than a sentence. Joey Mercado ’16, who recently hosted an event called “Activism vs. Slacktivism,” summed up this difference by saying that HONY is neither activism nor slacktivism, but instead a “catalyst for change.” Jennifer Cervantes ’15, whose event “Ferguson: Moment or Movement” will be held on Feb. 15, agreed with this idea, and further connected it to the events in Ferguson. What has spurred from Ferguson is a movement, but Ferguson itself is a moment. Similarly, HONY’s work in Brownsville can be seen as a moment in time, and it will take time to see if what develops from that is a movement.

Micro-storytelling of this form has, with social media becoming so important in our world, never before has had more potential to create change. What else can we do with this type of information? How else can projects not just like HONY, but the dozens and dozens of spinoffs it has inspired be pushed to impact more people and change more lives?

To label HONY’s work with Mott Hall a catalyst for change rather than as activism is not meant to diminish its effects or importance. On the contrary, I followed with heightened excitement for the two weeks the school was profiled, and as the amount of money donated continued to grow and surpass all expectations. It felt like I, as a fan and follower of HONY, was part of something bigger than myself. Watching as the story was featured initially in NYC news, then on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and then, most incredibly, with President Barack Obama, was a feeling almost impossible to describe. The lives of Vidal, Ms. Lopez and the entire school community will forever be changed. But it remains to be seen if this story will encourage more attention to be paid to other underserved schools in Brooklyn, and underserved schools all over the country. 

HONY profiles the people who walk and live amongst us, and the micro-stories it tells gives followers a quick glimpse into the lives of people we’d never considered before. The work of HONY has not only brought attention to this school, but to issues such as homelessness, bullying, mental illness and so many more, both subtly and hard-hitting. Many other posts don’t touch on such important and intense topics, instead giving readers a glimpse into the love lives, family lives, work lives and other personal lives of the interviewee, reminding the reader that no matter what you’re feeling, you’re not alone. Still, when it comes to issues of social justice, HONY does an excellent job of bringing issues to the table, and it’s up to us to continue pushing them forward and keeping them in the conversation. •