This is a portrait of Abdul Yaw Akachi. He lives in Miami, is a married father of two adult daughters, and has seven grandchildren. He is a spiritual man. He also has a felony record. Because of that record Akachi wasn't able to register to vote. However, that all changed after November 2018, when Florida voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4 to restore the voting rights to 1.4 million of their fellow residents with previous felony convictions.⁠

You can read more of Akachi’s story here, https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/03/24/fight-vote-florida-mans-voting-rights-restored-amendment-4

“If a man commits a crime and he goes to prison and serves all his time, I think his rights should be restored.⁠
So by taking away a man’s voting rights because he went to prison, it’s actually keeping him in prison, keeping him locked down. Because you don’t have a voice to speak on the issues that affect him in society.” - Abdul Yaw Akachi⁠

✍🏽 by Brad Bennett⁠
Portraits by @sonya_revell⁠
💪🏾 @lock.photo