Emil Lippe
Visual Journalist

Aaliyah Buchanan shares a laugh with her son, Nasir Buchanan-Brewer, 4, before tucking him in for bed at their home in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Aaliyah gave birth to her son when she was 20-years-old and working part-time to support herself after dropping out of Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Buchanan spends a majority of the work week away from her son, working part-time as a Marketing Assistant at Jack's Wholesale Windows. She is still searching for a second part-time job to help cover living costs. “I thought I would be graduated right now,” Buchanan said, “I'm making way less money and I don’t even know how people make it like this.”

Aaliyah Buchanan bargains on the phone with a customer while working at Jacks Wholesale Windows in Schoolcraft, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Buchanan is a part-time Marketing Assistant at Jacks Wholesale Windows and got the job to help support her son and herself. "It’s way different from what I’ve ever done," Buchanan said. Aaliyah originally wanted to be a nurse, but found that she simply didn't have the time or the resources to complete a six-year plan. “You can’t find yourself when you’re trying to be in school and class. I feel like that’s impossible. You don’t know what you want to do.”

Nasir Buchanan-Brewer,4, points at a photo of himself along with other class projects attached to the fridge at his home in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. With an unbalanced work schedule, Aaliyah does not get the chance to spend a lot of time with her son. “I’ve got to have three jobs just to make ends meet. How am I going to have time to do a class?” Buchanan said. “Well they say maybe you shouldn’t have had a kid. Well, you do. You have a kid." 

Aaliyah Buchanan trickles medicine into the mouth of her son, Nasir Buchanan-Brewer, 4, once arriving home in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. “With the Promise, everyone should be graduating and going to college, you would think,” Buchanan said. “But society is set up, it’s meant for you to fail if you don’t have all the resources.”

Aaliyah Buchanan opens the door of her car to strap her son in to take him home from his grandparents house after a long day of school in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Aaliyah's mindset changed when she became pregnant with her son, “I didn’t have my own drivers license or nothin. I said I need to get my own driver’s license, I need my own place, I need a car," Buchanan said. "My grandparent’s was taking care of me and chauffeuring me around—I don’t want that for my baby, I don’t want him to be brought up in somebody else’s home, I want him to have his own home.”

Aaliyah Buchanan poses for a portrait outside of Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Thursday, April 18, 2019. A Kalamazoo native, Buchanan graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 2012. As a Kalamazoo Public Schools graduate, she is eligible for fully paid college tuition through the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program. "If I take on school with working then I would have to figure out where my son is gonna go. But who wants to do that?" Buchanan asked, "I didn't know what I wanted to be. I didn't go out into the world. I never got the experience to go out into the world and do what I needed to do to figure out myself."

Aaliyah Buchanan prepares to leave for the day at Jacks Wholesale Windows in Schoolcraft, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. “I’m used to working Monday through Friday at least 10 hours a day. Like, that’s what I can do. Or overtime, like, I've always been a worker," Buchanan said, "I’m not used to having a day off. What am I supposed to do on a day off? Go find another job!” After working various part-time jobs at Wendy's, McDonald's, Evergreen Academy and Adventures Learning Centers, Buchanan has decided that she wants to be a social worker and spend time with children.

Aaliyah Buchanan removes her son's shirt after arriving home in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. “I live in a subsidy, that's income based and I hate it. I see what my mom was going through.” Buchanan and her two sisters were raised by their mother alone growing up.

Nasir Buchanan-Brewer, 4, hangs in the doorway at his home before a bath in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. “I am really trying my hardest to do everything I can to make sure my son won’t have to want for anything. It’s hard. I want to better myself, but I have somebody I need…I want him to better himself too,” Buchanan said.

Aaliyah Buchanan massages her eyelids at the end of a long work day at home in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. “It’s dinner. Bed. Then back to the same routine.” Buchanan has until the end of the summer of 2022 to use her Kalamazoo Promise scholarship funds and hopes to enroll into Kalamazoo Valley Community College by the end of the year.