Our country has experienced many racial tensions recently. The biggest of the protests’ being over Michael Browns’ death in Ferguson Missouri. Tim Dickinson wrote a photo essay called Ferguson Uncensored where he used photos of protesters and police, to tell his audience a story of what it was like to be in Ferguson. Dickinson uses the motif of children to connect many different types of people, and tell his story. The author uses corruption of children to convey his point of view to the audience. By looking at Ferguson Uncensored we can see how children’s lives were impacted by protests, which is important because they do not understand the tragedies going on around them. 

One photo in Dickinson’s essay showcases a mother holding her child, behind her is a line of police. The mother and child look visibly upset as they are walking away from the protest. In the photo “FTP” is written across the mother’s chest, which means “Fuck the Police”. This acronym was part of a movement to express citizen’s distrust of the police. The people of Ferguson felt that there was no other way to show their anger with the police than just saying “Fuck them”. In contrast, the daughter has “No violence” written on her arm. This saying was part of another movement asking for all of the racial violence to stop. There is an interesting contrast between what is written on the mother and child. The mother who understands what is happening around blames a group for the racial problems in America. Inversely, the child has “No Violence” written on her arm, rather than having a group to use as a scapegoat the innocent child is asking for all of the violence around her to stop. Dickinson uses this photo to compare the innocence of a child with the maturity of her mother. This motif plays with the reader’s emotions by showing the audience an innocent child in a situation that she could not possibly comprehend. 

Another photo in Dickinson’s essay portrays a young black girl being held, she is holding a rag in front of her mouth to presumably keep tear gas out of her system. The photo is taken in the dark and the only thing that is lit and clear is the child’s face. The viewer can tell that the little girl is focused on something in the distance, but the photographer doesn’t let the viewer know what is going on. This creates a sense of uncertainty for the viewer, as they worry for the safety of the young girl.  All the viewer can tell is the girl looks afraid as if she does not know what is going on. Dickinson frames the photo this way to show the young girls innocence, and to show his audience that she is afraid and unsure what is happening. This makes the viewer sympathetic to what is happening to the young child. The way Dickinson captures this photo demands the viewer to think about the situation the child is in. This is important because it makes the viewer understand how adult the situation these children are in is, and makes the viewer feel nervous and afraid. 

The overall theme between these two photos is the innocence of children in Ferguson, and how their lives were impacted by the riots. The photographer uses children to show the complexity of the situation. Dickinson also uses young children to show how the protests affect everyone and not just those who chose to patriciate in them. The author also uses these two photos to show how different people were affected by racial tensions in Ferguson. In the first photo a white girl and her mother can be seen, they are walking in broad daylight with the police behind them, not acting violently, but peacefully walking. In the second photo you can only see a young black child, she is in the dark, and it appears that her and the person carrying her are the only two people in the world. 

These two photos show such different stories about what happened in Ferguson. 

The second photo is almost playing on the idea that the black girl is alone in this world, and that she can only come out in the dark to express herself. Going further the darkness represents oppression, and loneliness, which is why the photographer chose to use this photo. This is important because the girl doesn’t understand what is going on but yet she is there representing a group of people protesting injustice. In comparison, in the first photo the white girl can show who she is in broad daylight, with everyone watching and she is safe. There is even a line of police standing right behind her, but rather than pointing their weapons they are perfectly at ease. It makes the viewer wonder about the backgrounds that these children come from and makes them realize what types on inequality are going on in the world.  This contrast demands the viewer to feel sympathetic to each of the girls, and makes the viewer understand how obvious inequality is in Ferguson. 

In conclusion, there were so many different stories told in the Ferguson riots but in Tim Dickinson’s photo essay his photos focus on the innocence of children in the cruel world they are living in today.  Dickinson does this by showing the difference in the children effected by the protests in Ferguson. The photos contrast white privilege with the completely different world of black children in Ferguson Missouri. The author uses the reader’s emotions to convey the story of tragedy and innocence, which are two themes that were often overlooked during this Ferguson riots and protests. This photo essay was impactful because it emphasized the tragedies that were happening in Ferguson, and showed viewers a different perspective on what and why such terrible thing was happening.
