Just Wing'N It

This picture, "Roosevelt High School Students", Minneapolis, MN was taken by Wing Young Huie in 1998. They are all lined up shoulder to shoulder, in multiple rows, their arms are folded across their chest and their eyes are closed, praying. All are similarly dressed in tennis shoes, slacks, and over sized tops and coats. The image is in black and white which suggests that Huie does not want us to focus on the color and appearance differences, but the actions taking place in the image. 

Huie describes the population of this school was half Somalian during this time. This picture represents the male Muslim population at the school. Their religion requires asks them to pray five time a day. They would discreetly pray in quiet stairwells and empty bathrooms. Practicing prayer is hard during school hours and caused both racial and religious conflicts within the school environment. Also, there is the conflict of separating religion from state in America. The students ironically would go pray at the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church across the street form the school in the basement and then later the YMCA. The boys would pray first then the girls. 

Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood both reference religion as a tool of "othering" in this photograph and multiple times in The Handmaid's Tale. In The Handmaid's Tale all citizens of Gilead are Christian due to the restrictions of a totalitarian government, they do not have freedom of religion. The government in the book uses verses of the Bible to justify the rules they have set in place for their citizens. "Others" who do not comply are simply the enemy. However, in this photograph taken by Huie there is this acceptance of cultural and religious differences taking place in urban Minneapolis, MN. The picture depicts how American culture has incorporated other cultures into their communities. Religion is not used to "other" people, but is used as a safe haven for practicing another religion.