Local student creates photo promoting need for love and equality

Last year, Jazella Cruz drew and colored a picture that unbeknownst to her would become a pertinent symbol of current race-related events.

Cruz, a sophomore-to-be at Hampton-Dumont-CAL High School, etched a picture of two hands of different skin color forming a heart and un-der are two quotes from actress Sandra Bullock promoting love regardless of race, religion and other identifiers.

Titled “Love,” Cruz said she didn’t draw the picture for any reason other than she enjoys drawing. The picture wasn’t for art class or to sell or reproduce to give away. It was a tribute to her own life as a mixed-race child and the only copy currently hangs in her grandmother’s home.

“It talks about race and I’m mixed race myself,” she said. “It hit me with everything I’ve been told about my race.”

Nearly a year later, Cruz realized that her one-off picture has taken new, expanded meaning in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and movements that have grabbed news headlines throughout the country and even across the world.

“With all the Black Lives Matter movements, my grandmother and I were talking to each other the other day and thought how the picture and the quotes talk about how we’re all equal,” she said.

Cruz said she hasn’t been involved in any of the movements, but admires the heart of those that want to invoke positive change and begin important conversations local-ly, statewide and throughout the country.

“What they’re trying to do is good,” she said. “They’re trying to send out a good message.”