Senator Andy Kim at Delaney Hall

In the photograph, by Mostafa Bassim, Senator Andy Kim is standing outside Delaney Hall, a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, among the families, advocates, and neighbors who had come because someone they loved, or someone they were trying to protect, was inside. It is a still moment, but not a calm one. It feels like the pause before something breaks.

By then, Delaney Hall had become a place of waiting. Families waited for calls. Lawyers waited for access. Advocates waited for answers. Inside, detainees had described food they could not eat, bathrooms that did not work, medical care that did not come, and people being moved without warning, away from those trying to find them.

Eventually, some began a hunger strike. When a person cannot leave, when calls are limited, when complaints disappear into a system built to outlast them, the body becomes one of the only places left to speak from.

A few moments after this image, federal agents used tear gas and pepper spray.

That is what this portrait holds for me: the second before the air changed. Before people began coughing and covering their faces. Before the crowd scattered. Before the simple act of standing outside a detention center became dangerous.

The people inside were asking for food, medicine, working bathrooms, contact with their families, and the chance to be treated as human beings. The people outside were asking that someone listen. They were met instead with tear gas.

For the clearest detail and strongest finished piece, I recommend using cardstock and a cutting machine. Cardstock provides the stability needed to hold the fine lines and structure of the design. You can download the black and white image directly from this site or access the full set on the Cricut website under the What Remains Collection. These templates are free to use for personal and community projects, but they may not be sold or used for commercial purposes.

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