2021 Online Video Storytelling – News and Issue – Individual
Ernestina Enríquez Fierro lost her youngest daughter, 15-year-old Adriana, to femicide in 2008. Facing indifference from authorities, Enríquez Fierro fights back against a culture of impunity and misogyny.
Violence is unrelenting in the Bay Area community of Richmond and other small urban cities nationwide. The constant uncertainty wears on residents unsure of when gunfire will disrupt their lives. Amid their grief, a healing voice of comfort and hope has emerged. For two decades, Elana Bolds has helped heal broken hearts as a funeral singer. The faces in the caskets seem younger every year, and she has grown weary of watching Richmond be decimated by gun violence. Now she is using her voice for change. This story of community activism and resilience is a powerful testament of hope and the human spirit. Video journalist Manjula Varghese nurtured a three-year relationship with Bolds and her community to capture this compelling story. The story was published in The San Francisco Chronicle in 2020.
Four years ago, an eighth-grade student opened fire in the Madison School cafeteria and injured four students. Cameron Smith was shot twice. At first, he thought it was a paintball gun. He felt something burn and saw red on his clothes. He stepped toward the shooter, thinking this was some type of prank, and collapsed onto the ground. His life has never been the same. After multiple surgeries to remove the bullets, he had to learn how to walk again. And now Cameron lives in constant pain. But life has always been hard for Cameron. He was 4 years old when he found his uncle on the basement floor, dead from a drug overdose. With no father around, this man had been his hero. He was 12 when he realized his mom used drugs. She would say she was going to Dollar General and not return for days. When she did come back, she would go straight to her room and close the door. During that time, his mom cooked methamphetamine in their home, which he said often made him sick. Cameron missed 80 days of school and failed seventh grade. “The shooting wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me,” said Cameron as he sat on the couch next to his service dog.
