Racial tension between white police officers and black protectors are growing because of visuals on social media and newspapers. On August 12, 2014 Scott Olson took a photo of a group of black men protesting in Ferguson, Missouri.  The photographer uses extra-diegetic gaze to connect with the viewer and grabs the viewer’s attention. The gaze makes the viewer want to join in the protesting to help stop the police from killing the innocent black people. The protesters are staring at the viewer to make the viewer feel guilty for sitting down and doing nothing about what is going on in Ferguson and in united states. The author appeals to the audience’s negative emotions of guilt by using the elements of color, graffiti, and contrast, however the viewer still has hope even with all the chaos and racial tension in the world.  

The author uses color to make the viewer feel guilty. The color white stands out because it stands for peace and innocence. The black man wearing a white shirt is carrying a white microphone, which symbolizes he is demanding peace between the black community and the white police officers. In the image the black colors surround the white colors. The color black stands for fear and death that makes the viewers afraid because they could be the next victim to a white police officer. The color black symbolizes evil and the color white symbolizes good, although in this image they are mixed to show good and bad sides in the world. The white and black in this image symbolize the racial tensions between black and whites. The man in the white is trying to say we all need to come together to have peace, because racial violence is tearing our world apart. The color white makes the viewer feel guilty because the viewer cannot do anything to help the community come to peace even though the viewer could protest to end the racial tensions. The picture makes the viewer feel guilty by looking at them and knowing what is going on but not doing anything about it. 

The author uses not only black and white, but bright green to make you focus on the words on the poster. The words on the poster are “Mike White Murdered Mike Brown WE NEED JUSTICE.” The words white and brown are underlined in this image to show that the author wanted to focus on black and white racial tensions. The word “Murdered” is in red to symbolize blood for all of the black victims of police brutality. Every time the viewer sees the word “Murder” it brings the negative emotion guilt because the viewer did not do anything to help stop the killing of the black community. The word “NEED” on the poster is all uppercase, unlined and bolded in the color red. This symbolizes that many victims from police brutality need justices. The black community feels like they have been waiting for justice for years to fix the racial problems that have been going on for hundreds of years. On the poster “NEED” could say want, but the protesters are demanding change. The poster makes the viewer want be a part of the protest, but it makes the viewer feel guilty for not being a part of the fight. The viewer that is not doing anything to help the black community is just a bystander and the viewer feels guilty because they probably feel like the racial tension is their fault.

The photographer blurred the background, made the poster bright and the rest of picture dull.  The background was blurred to show an unclear world with a lot of racist problems. The unclearness of the picture represents the world and the viewer cannot see the future. The viewer will just have to live and learn about the racial tensions in the United States. If the viewer does not know what is going on in the United States it makes them feel lost in society, so it causes them to feels guilty because the viewer did not care enough to check on the problems in the United States. The dull colors represent the negative in the United States. The dull colors make the image of the world bad and scary, however even in the hard times in Ferguson this photographer gives the viewer a little hope. In this picture there is a bright green poster that adds color to this dull image. The light green poster gives hope that something could change. The hope from the poster may change how people think about racial tensions. The photo gives the viewer hope even if the viewer feels guilty for not doing anything to help the black community. 

The author’s image is demanding justice and peace for Ferguson and the world. The expressions on the faces of the black men in the image look like they are yelling and forceful. The black men in the image are looking at the viewer and demanding their attention to listen to what they have to say and take action. The poster uses action words to get people to react to what happened in Ferguson. This makes the viewer want to do something about the racial problems. The photo of the black men with a bullhorn represents getting their voices heard by the white people, but the poster demands justice for innocent victims that were killed by the white police. 

The contrast, color and symbols in the image makes the viewer feel guilty for not doing anything to help fight the battle against the racial problem in the United States. The light green color gives hope to the people in Ferguson and the world because with all the dullness in the United States there is still hope for justice in the future. The image of the black men demands attention, justice and peace. The author appeals to the audience’s negative emotions of guilt by using the elements of color, graffiti, and contrast, however the viewer still has hope even with all the chaos and racial tension in the world. The viewer is going to keep seeing images like this one if the viewers do not put a stop to police brutality.
