Among all the social issues in the United States today, one of the most prominent in terms of headlines is police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.  After seemingly almost every death of an unarmed black man from the hands of an armed police officer, protests usually ensue.  These protests most of the time are peaceful, but some are not, and rioting has occurred.  The rhetoric in these protests is often anti-police and racism in the force.  As a result, police are yelled and cursed out by angry African Americans that want change in the system.  The problem is that people not involved in the Black Lives Matter group take offense to the name Black Lives Matter, usually saying that “all lives matter”.  Police officers obviously do not enjoy being called racist by association and will make it known.  The Trinity Police Department wasn’t afraid to take action and posted a powerful picture on Twitter of a white and black officer showing their hands with the words “His life matters” on them.  There are several traits in the picture that feature unity, some are obvious and some are not.  The picture’s color, the words on the picture, the scale, and the realism of the social issue form a central message.  The picture illustrates a powerful message in that the police don’t care what the color of a person’s skin is, but rather the content of their character, and this picture, through several traits, moves just one step closer in the attempt to reunite the United States once again.

Before going into the photo itself however, it is important to understand the backstory of Black Lives Matter and what they stand for.  Black Lives Matter was started by three people shortly after George Zimmerman was ruled not guilty in his trial for the death of 13 year old Trayvon Martin.  They gained national popularity after the death of Mike Brown and the outcry for justice.  According to the Black Lives Matter official website “Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.  It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression” (BlackLivesMatter.com).  This group is among the most popular social activist groups and it has a huge following.  While their intentions are good, some of their antics have come under scrutiny.  Their main target, as mentioned in the mission statement, is police officers in an effort to end intentional targeting of black people.  One of the main issues that people have with them is there violent rhetoric towards cops.  They have been known for their loud outcries and at times controversial messaging such as screaming “Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon”, “What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!”, and the antagonizing of white people of dissenting opinion as well as people that say “All Lives Matter” at rallies.  In one particular case, they took former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ microphone at a live rally and explained why Seattle had unequal treatment of black people.  So the group is a very polarizing figure in America today and police officers understandably have an issue with the group, which is where the Trinity Police Department’s picture comes into play.  

The first trait that sticks out above all else is the color.  Two people of two different races, one person is white, and one person is black, both wearing police uniforms with their hands pointed outward.  This immediately points toward two people displaying a message, without taking anything else into context.  What the message says can most likely be interpreted without looking further into it.  Immediately what comes to mind is both of these people are different, they are different people, with different skin colors, and probably believe in different ideologies, but they have at least quite a few things in common.  They view each other as equals and don’t think of the other differently because of color, and they both have a common goal of keeping the area that they work in safe and making sure criminals face justice.  This is just by looking at their skin color and their uniform.  What makes this important is that it shows unity in a time where America is divided.  The rhetoric of whites vs blacks, cops vs civilians, government vs the people, it seems like several civil wars going on and these two Texas police officers are doing their role in ending at least one war.  They throw away their prejudices, if they had any to begin with for the sake of a safer place for everyone, men, women, children, families, everything.  So when people say that cops are racist and that cops are pigs and shoot black people just because they are black, this serves as a reminder that people aren’t like that.  This shows that both in the police force and on the street, we can unite and work together to do something selfless bring more good attributes at not only a local level, but on a state level, a federal level, and even globally.  Skin tone shouldn’t affect the way we view people, neither should a person’s job, and these two police officers say that in a way that everyone can easily understand.    

Another trait that sticks out in the picture is the words “his life matters” written on the hands of both of the officers.  These words stick out about as much as the color because it tells the people what they are speaking out for.  In this case, they are speaking out for equality without offending many Americans by simply saying “his life matters”.  The problem that many Americans have with the Black Lives Matter movement is that it is interpreted as only Black Lives Matter and when people say “all lives matter”, it gets deemed as racist and defeating the purpose.  So these cops are speaking out against the Black Lives Matter phrase and are saying that they don’t care what you physically look like, you are not judged by your race.  It presents unity with white and black people, something that is presented as a complete divide by the mainstream media.  With that being said, some people are truly divided when it comes to race, but these people are lying to themselves if they say that people of different race don’t respect each other and aren’t working together to improve race relations. 

One detail that many people will overlook is the scale.  In a picture that is meant to represent unity, it is no coincidence that they are virtually on the same plane.  The white cop is not bigger and more dominant than the black officer, and the black officer is not bigger and more dominant than the white officer.  There is no intimidation are superiority present that would demonstrate power, they are on an even playing field.  When looking at a normal photo, this is often not a big deal, but when trying to make a point, particularly social or political motivated ones, scale is very significant.

 

Take this World War II propaganda poster that was meant to persuade men to join the army and take on the Japanese.  The Japanese, being depicted by a monkey, is clearly above the American women, as the Japanese is at the top of the photo, looking down on the women.  This is a sign of domination and superiority of the Japanese people, designed to motivate the American people to fight back.  However the photo of the two police officers shows them on a virtually even plane, displaying balance.  This is again something that is overlooked in many photos unless it is clearly meant to depict someone or something in a hostile fashion.  So in this case of the police photo, this detail would be easily overlooked by the common man.

In terms of realism, there is nothing more real than what is going on in this photo.  A nation that is seemingly becoming more divided needs more people that refuse to divide and instead unite.  This is addressing a very real issue in the United States and represents a stance that isn’t presented in the mainstream media today, those who don’t hate, and those who want to come together.  Instead, we the people see a divide as the media only covers protests, riots, people cursing each other out, hostility, hate, and the narrative that this is once again white country vs black country.   It is sad that there aren’t more signs of unity like the one shown here that are presented in the media today.  But in the photo, there is no filter, no special effects, no cropping, no editing, it’s just a photo of two people doing what they believe is the right thing, showing the people that people can unite.  

These four elements come together to form what the picture is meant to form, unity.  Within the photo itself, the image combines color, words, scale, and especially the realism to form a vision that everyone wants unity.  No one enjoys seeing people being oppressed and these officers and the Trinity Police Department as a whole want to stand up and show that they don’t want the divide to increase.  They follow what Martin Luther King said in his “I Have a Dream Speech”: “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (King Jr.). This police department lives by it and everyone should live it by it too.  It’s almost embarrassing that the year is 2016 and racial issues are still headliners when we have a black Attorney General and a black President.  The people need to realize that we are past the days of segregation and racism, and that the world today is different from the world we lived in 60 years ago.  Is there still racism in America?  Yes, but the amount of pure racists are minute, and the belief that the police and white people as a whole are racists is absurd.  The body that is the people want to come together and unite and little actions like this is what will lead the nation past this.

In conclusion, this picture of the two Trinity Police Department officers of different skin color sends a powerful message that they care about each other and don’t care about race.  They find it insane that there is rhetoric out saying “All Lives Matter” is offensive, and this is there way of fighting to bridge the divide.  The fact that there is a movement called Black Lives Matter is insanity in 2016 as we as a nation should be way above this and should’ve moved on from the past a long time ago.  There are far worse conditions for other people of race, ethnicity, and gender in different regions of the world, and there is still slavery certain countries in the world too.  We as a nation are above this, and we will rise up again and put the ugly past behind us.   
