American Liberty — Lavae Reed Art

My piece titled, “American Liberty” is an 18 x 24-inch piece made from charcoal, pastels, and color pencils on heavy-weight paper. This is an illustration of a white male delivering a baby from a black woman. The white man in this image is wearing black face but in the literal sense. He is wearing the freshly cutoff face of a black man with blood spewing around the perimeter. I chose to express racism in America in this way to show that there is blood being shed and innocent lives being taken. Black people are being found hanging from trees, beaten and thrown in bodies of water, etc. and not to mention being unjustifiably killed by police all across the country with no arrests being made and no justice ever being found. All of these murders have been deemed as suicides or “no foul play” has been found within these investigations; leaving families, friends, and communities heartbroken and outraged. I not only wanted to showcase this matter within this piece by a gory visual of black face, but the white man in this piece is wearing black face as a means of impersonating the man that he killed as this is supposed to be an illustration of a father delivering a baby from his wife. This bears the concept of purposely sabotaging black families and bonds by taking the man out of the equation which creates broken homes and leaving children without a father-figure/ male role model. A lot of children in the black community turn to violence and a life of crime because they lack that crucial guidance and discipline that the majority of people are blessed to have.

The black woman in this piece is giving birth, not to a baby, but to a pile of guns, grenades and ammunition, which is a representation of the gun violence that has been taking place in the black community and low-income areas. I took the time to illustrate this because this is the most prominent reason that white people use in order to justify killing us. No matter who the person is or what they did or didn’t do, Black Americans are racially profiled and seen as people who deserve death but never innocent. This pile of guns and ammunition is being birthed by the black woman and delivered by the white man wearing black face, which also serves as a double entendre as this references the conspiracy that the United States government is responsible for supplying urban areas with not only guns but cocaine that was linked to the CIA in the 90s. So, while Black Americans are blamed for taking up the majority of gun violence statistics, I have introduced a probable cause and effect that was brought up by the CIA and United States Government.

The “blue lives matter” flag is present in this piece and is being used to cover and carefully cover the pile of guns and ammo by the white man in this drawing. I chose to incorporate this to show how important our 2nd amendment and gun laws are to the majority people in this country and how they are more cared for than even the children that they swear that they’re trying to protect. I emphasize this even more by drawing the bones of children and infants at the very bottom of the page. By doing this I have created a deep and heavy atmosphere of death that helps capture the tension that is felt in my piece.

I made this piece because I simply had a lot of anger and frustration that I wanted to express. In 2026, the hatred and discrimination of Black Americans is still relevant, and it is disheartening to say the least. This creates trauma that will be passed down from one generation to the next and thus it will be and endless cycle of hatred. I don’t think that white people are inherently evil, nor do I think that they’re all racist, but I can’t deny how uneasy I feel. It is hard for me to trust the majority of white people because if I were to be beaten and killed and meet the same fate as Trey Reed, Nolan Wells, To’Nea Nicle Miller, Juliana Nzita, etc. I think it would probably be by people I would least suspect, and just like the people I mentioned, no arrests will be made, and my death will be ruled as a suicide. I can’t even accept invitations to hang out with people I deem as friends if I know that the majority of people there are white because I would feel uncomfortable. I know I’m just probably being unreasonable and dramatic, but this is a serious matter to me, and I just felt like it needed to be expressed.

I love how this piece turned out. For many months I’ve been creating smaller pieces because they were easier to finish within a timely fashion and easier to sell. Although 18 x 24 inches isn’t that large of a piece, its brough back the joy of working on large projects. I feel as though that I am able to say more and express more themes on a bigger paper/canvas. This piece has pushed me to be more creative with the stories and concepts that I want to illustrate. Working on larger projects forces me to incorporate more detail, to plan out my pieces more thoroughly as I have more space to cover, and it showcases my shortcomings in areas of my craft that may needs to be refined.

When I was 18, all I did was large pieces that were 22 x 30 inches or more. Those pieces were all done in B&W as I didn’t feel comfortable with color theory and illustrating figures and objects in a realistic fashion. As time went on, my skills have improved, I have learned more techniques and continued to evolve my style. However, I started doing smaller pieces as a path of least resistance. To make the art that I do now requires time and I always figured to have a successful art career that I needed to post art constantly to keep up with the world, so I refrained from starting on terribly long projects and thus limiting myself as a creative. It was wrong for me to do that, and I am now inspired to make more incredible pieces that will inevitably push my skillset to the next level.