Learning the images’ racist purpose transformed Lanier’s discovery into a duty to act.

Evidence

I stopped reading. The joy I had experienced just moments before was radically stripped away by what I can only describe as a gut punch. … I looked back at the photo and Papa Renty’s eyes once again locked with mine. We were just stuck there, staring at each other, and I realized that he was communicating with me. I felt his defiance, his opposition. It was a call to defend him. To stand up for him. To fight for him. As I stared at him, I felt his pain, his hurt, his frustration. In that moment, I knew I had to do something. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 154