Pulitzer-winner photographer Don Bartletti from the Los Angeles Times put together a story and photograph package for the Times’ Sunday magazine that synthesizes 17 years of his work.
Bartletti writes:
I’ve heard a lot of slogans and rally chants this year – often shouted in the most venomous way – from those on both sides of the immigration debate, on both sides of the border. I’ve jotted down these sayings in my notebook, making for a strange catalog of contentious feelings.
And then, looking at this litany one day, it hit me: These cries could well be chapter headings in a diary of the Ramirez family, a clan I’ve been chronicling in pictures for 17 years.
Theirs is a story nearly as old as America: Like millions of poor people, yearning for something better, they made their way to this nation’s doorstep. And like many, they were too weary to knock once they got here.
An exhibit of Bartletti’s work is on display at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park until Jan. 14.