'We Have A Voice:' Local Writer Creates PSA To Make Sure The Deaf Community Has Their Voice Heard
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Black Lives Matter movement has been growing over the last couple of months, but members of the deaf community now want their message to be heard.
They're reminding the community and the movement that just because they can't hear, doesn't mean they don't matter.
Pittsburgh artist, writer, and director - Emmai Alaquiva says the idea came from his 8-year-old daughter.
"When I explained to her what was going on, she understood the magnitude that Black Lives Matter, so she began making these signs around the house - BLM here, BLM there," he said. "One day she said, 'dad, there's no one doing sign language at these protests, what's going on?'"
With that, Alaquiva got to work.
He collaborated with his team and others to do what he described as "giving truth to power."
The end result was the one-minute public service announcement "Unspeakable."
"It really inspired me to say, hey listen, we need to do what we need to do,' what we should do to amplify voices of everybody, and particularly deaf and those with disabilities," he said.
"I think [Black Lives Matter] is really important and if you're saying Black Lives Matter, that's like everybody's lives matter, and we all matter," his daughter said.
"I decided to get involved with BLM PSA for the deaf because a lot of the time, people with disabilities are often overlooked, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally," said a woman named Michelle that appears in the PSA.
The one-minute PSA shows various people signing their thoughts about the movement and how they're contributing.
"I hope that they take away that we have a voice and we need people to share it and be aware that we have a voice," Michelle added.
They're doing their part to make sure black lives, including those who are deaf, matter.
