Harmed and Dangerous
consists of four 20"x20" Cibachrome prints of armed Black and Latino men and women on the wall and a "prison booth" approximately 4' from it standing on the floor. The "prison booth" is what you might find if you visited someone in prison-you are separated from them by a wall and a thick Plexiglas window. To speak with them you must sit at the booth and each pick up a phone. When you pick up either phone in Harmed and Dangerous, you will here someone speaking about violence. The message plays in a continuous loop, thus the voices that the viewer hears depends upon the position of the tape at the time they pick up the receiver. The following is an excerpt of the audio:
 
The problem ain't that there's too much violence. The problem is that the violence is all coming down on us and that there ain't enough violence going up against the system.

 
My life was typical.

The problem ain't that there's too much violence...

How many people in your family been killed? I've had 2 people in my family killed. Maybe more for you. I know that's one thing that far too many of us have in common.

The problem ain't that there's too much violence...


They say we violent. They say we violent cause of all the unwed mothers. Well if you axe me that sounds like a dis on women. Don't that sound like they sayin that women can't raise no kids without a man and that it women's fault if they kids get a little buck wild because of the fucked up situation we all in? How they gonna stop this violence anyway—what’s they solution? They want to send in more killcrazy cops into our neighborhoods. Ain't that violent? They want to keep us at each other's throats, Ain't that violent? Keep us hungry, we ain't got no jobs That's violent. You know, they don't know a damn thing about Black people. And they know even less about the poor. Which means they don't know shit about us. Accept when it comes to the Black family or the so called destruction of the Black family. Then they know everything. They dam system caused that in the first place. When shit affects they world then they know everything.

The problem ain't that there's too much violence...


Who do you think we’re aiming at now?..