"AM I NEXT?" NEW PUBLIC CAMPAIGN STANDS WITH NEIGHBORS TAKEN IN ICE RAIDS

Billboard-sized illuminated images on downtown L.A. buildings will be unveiled at a press conference Thursday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. at the California Community Foundation.

Actors Edward James Olmos and George Takei will join the event's launch.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Three prominent Los Angeles institutions will launch a mass coordinated response Thursday to federal immigration raids, unveiling billboard-sized illuminated images of Angelenos in support of neighbors detained.

The images will appear nightly beginning Nov. 6 at the California Community Foundation, LA Plaza Cultura y Artes and the Japanese American National Museum downtown Los Angeles buildings. Brief stories of those taken, including U.S. citizens, will appear alongside the photographs.

The community campaign raises the urgent question: If people are arrested without regard to constitutional rights, who is safe?

The project, "Am I Next?" will feature images, measuring about 20 by 30 feet, to confront attacks on civil liberties and the undermining of democratic norms that weaken civic life. The portraits feature a cross-section of Angelenos united in protest over recent U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service raids that have swept up hundreds of residents—many with no criminal record—and placed them in detention.

"We ask the question, 'Am I Next?' because when basic rights are taken away, anyone can be taken away, for any reason," said CCF President and Chief Executive Officer Miguel A. Santana. "If anyone's right to speak, protest or create can be stripped, if anyone can be targeted for their race, religion, identity or who they love, we are all in danger. Until justice is restored, no one is safe. Not one of us. Any one of us could be next."

The campaign harnesses the power of art and collaborative action to highlight the threat to democracy to all when immigrants are targeted. Along with CCF, participating organizations are LA Plaza de Cultural Y Artes, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), the Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA), and the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). The images will appear in high-visibility areas in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Westside.

Other institutions plan to project the campaign images in coming weeks. In addition, a dedicated campaign website will allow Angelenos to send in their own photos to show their support. The "Am I Next" content will also be available as open source material to download from the website.

At LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, in addition to the "Am I Next" content, the installation includes illustrations by over 30 large-scale digital images created by nine Los Angeles–based artists: Brandy González, Ernesto Yerena Montejano, Joel García, John Fleissner, Lalo Alcaráz, Las Chicas Peligrosas, Lilia Ramírez "Liliflor," Man One and Mario Hernández. The project at LA Plaza, titled "We Belong Here" and displayed indefinitely, also features a display of 13 neon artworks by Los Angeles–based artist Patrick Martinez.

Their work features bold graphics, illustrations and figurative renderings to evoke a feeling that all people in L.A. County deserve to live their lives in peace.

"At a time when diversity is under attack, our mission has never been more urgent," says Leticia Rhi Buckley, CEO of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. "We remain steadfast in amplifying the voices and lived experiences of the Latino community, using our space as both a testament to our heritage and a sanctuary for belonging, and we remain responsive to what is happening in Los Angeles."

Edward James Olmos, the acclaimed Academy Award-nominated actor and social justice activist, has joined the campaign.

"Throughout my life, I've told stories that reflect who we are as Americans—our courage, our struggles, and our shared humanity. Being American has never been about the color of our skin, but the character of our hearts," Olmos said. "Today, those truths are under attack, and this project stands as a moral call to defend them. That's why I'm lending my face, my voice, and my heart to it—with everything I am."

Actor George Takei has also joined the campaign. As a 5-year-old boy, he was one of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II without charges, hearings or evidence of wrongdoing. JANM will intersperse images of those incarcerated with Angelenos standing against the ICE raids. The museum's historic Little Tokyo location and plaza is where more than 37,000 Japanese Americans from Los Angeles boarded buses bound for America's concentration camps in 1942.

"Few people stood up for Japanese Americans when they were unjustly incarcerated, which is why we have the moral responsibility to stand up for others today to ensure that what happened back then never happens to anyone again," says Ann Burroughs, JANM president and CEO. "As our immigrant brothers and sisters face the terror of ICE and [border patrol] raids across the country, the parallels between the state-sanctioned exclusion of 1942 and today are immediate and real.

"Through this project, JANM helps the public reckon with being participants in shaping civic life. It is also a strong reminder to all that memory is not passive. It is an act of resistance, a tool for resilience, and a moral responsibility to defend the principles that define a free and just society."

CCF will project the images at 6 p.m. nightly on the facade of its building at 717 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The dedicated campaign website will go live on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at AmINextLA.org.

Information on the other partners is here.

CONTACT: Gilien Silsby, 213-500-8673

SOURCE California Community Foundation