San Antonio hosts one of the largest annual MLK marches in the country but, for the past two years, the march has been conducted virtually due to surges in Delta and Omicron COVID-19 cases in 2021 and 2022, respectively. I think the story of this photo is conveyed in the multitude of expressions that can be observed. They are varied but share the same naïveté of the coming turbulence that would begin in just a few months– the start of the pandemic and worldwide calls for social justice in response to the death of George Floyd. Since then, our lives in the United States and the lives of those living abroad have become more complex and inundated with uncertainty, particularly in relationship to gun violence, reproductive rights, oppressive state nationalism, and impending climate crisis, just to name a few. Such social issues existed in prominence well before 2020, but in the collective consciousness, these problems have been brought to the forefront and now addressed with greater intensity and strife than ever before.

There was an unadulterated sense of unity and camaraderie during 2020’s MLK march. It was a chilly morning, but hundreds of thousands of marchers still showed up. Many former friends, classmates, and staff I have not interacted with since the day of the march can be seen in the foreground of the image. We arrived at the start march on buses charted by UTSA. Looking at this photo reminds me of a simpler time that, in my mind, represented one of the last moments of pre-pandemic normalcy before we were propelled into the current social, political, and economic landscape. I only wonder how they are faring and coping now, two years after this photograph was taken.