
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 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. 

The Trinity Police Department decided to say what was on their mind and took this photo. Color is a trait of the photo that plays a valuable role.  Two people of two different races, one person is white, and one person is black, both wearing police uniforms with their hands pointed outward.  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.  The blue lockers in the background are important too as they represent the police as a whole.  The police are symbolized by blue and the blue lockers represent unity in not only the color because it represents the police, but it means that the photo was most likely taken in a locker room where officers have to share a collective space together.  The blue lockers also  makes the photo more effective than a solid background because it gives these officers an environment and given that the lockers are blue, this means that it is in a police department.  This ultimately means that these officers as well as the whole police department work together in the department and that the Trinity Police Department is a united police force.  A solid background would take away from the atmosphere and make it look less natural.  The contrast in colors is then brought together in the form of words.

The words “his life matters” written on each officers hand is a trait that is imperative to the photo.  These words are about as important 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.  People want unity and the words represent unity.  The words are written are written on an even plane which is imperative to the photo. 

Scale is an aspect of the photo is a detail that the average person might overlook.  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.  

 

   In contrast, the characters on this World War II propaganda poster was meant to persuade men to join the army and take on the Japanese is not on the same plane.  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.  Domination is something that is found in political propaganda more often than not, when coming together on the other hand, it is important to keep the content on an even playing field.  The realism of the photo as well as the plane is an underrated aspect

The realistic situation of the photo is crucial; 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.  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.  The raw photo itself is critical because nothing is masked or change.  If the photo was edited, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective because it takes away.  People would be skeptic or say that it isn’t authentic which would remove the overall message.   

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.).  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.  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.  America from 200 years ago and 50 years ago is much different than today’s America.  The United States of America as a nation are above this, and we will rise up again and put the ugly past behind us.   
