In Ferguson, Uncensored, Tim Dickinson employs pictures to inform the American people about the horrors going on in Ferguson, Missouri. He does this not only to convince the audience of a specific side, but to show the importance of the racial tensions going on in Missouri. At the time the photo essay came out, many people in the general population did not know how bad the situation in Ferguson was. Dickinson went into Missouri with the goal of enlightening people of the condition of the state, but through his photo essay, it becomes clear Dickinson supports the Black Lives Matter movement. Whether that came about from his personal bias against the police (he was arrested for stepping out of the reporting zone) or because he was moved by the protestors does not matter. Dickinson’s photo essay is a call to action for the Black Lives Matter movement, characterizing the African American race as the victims and the police as the villains. 

One specific picture in the photographic essay depicts a street mostly covered by smoke and a man throwing an explosive at the police (not pictured). The picture focuses on an African American man in the middle of the street leaning back. His posture makes it look like he is on the defensive, only protecting himself from what the police already threw at him. The gas canister between his feet displays that he is defending himself from a police attack. It is already open and spewing gas, while the one the man is holding is not. The caption of this picture “[he threw] and explosive back at police” also suggests the police were the first ones to initiate the action in the scene. In this scene, the police are the “bad guys” because they were the ones that started the conflict by throwing the gas canisters at protestors. Subsequently, because the man looks like he is on the defensive, he is characterized as the “good guy.” The picture shows police brutality against the people in Ferguson. Thus, the photo helps create sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement because the audience will feel pity for this man who is being attacked by the police.  

The background of this photo also exemplifies how horrible the events in Ferguson were, and generates sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement. In the picture, white smoke obscures a large portion of the scene, coming from a gas canister by the man’s feet.  The smoke obscuring the audience’s haze is symbolic of how officials in Ferguson were restricting images from coming out of the city that showed what was actually going on. The setting of this picture represents how disturbing the events in Ferguson really were. In the background of this photo, the word “market” is clearly visible, and what looks like outlet stores. This means that explosives are being thrown in a public place that common people gather at, showing how extreme the conflict is. Because the setting is such a common place, the audience can easily picture themselves there, in the situation that the African American man is in, which creates sympathy for this man. Additionally, there is a white cross in the photo, seemingly attached to a church. A church is usually a place of peace, but in this photo it is right in the center of the conflict. The cross is a symbol of Jesus’ death and resurrection for Christianity in the Bible, which mirrors how Michael Brown was a martyr for the Black Lives Matter movement. The audience associates the cross with the man in the photo because he is the only one there. 

It is also important to note what does not appear in this picture, most notability the police this man is facing off against. However, the audience will assume he is fighting against many officers because it is a common theme throughout the photo essay: one person against multiple police officers. Because the police are not pictured, it becomes very hard for the audience to identify with them. The attention of the photograph is on the man, and because he is the only person in the photo, the audience will choose to sympathize with him over the police, who are unknown entity in the picture.

This photo supports the Black Lives Matter movement by generating sympathy for the African American man pictured. Ferguson is making an argument through this photo that what is happening in Ferguson needs to be stopped by attempting to appeal to people’s emotions. The photo of the African American man throwing an explosive at the police shares similar traits with many other photos in this essay. The theme of “one man against many’ is present not only in what happened to Michael Brown and in this photo, but also in the photo with a man walking to the police with his hands in the air, and the mother with the child walking away from the police. Additionally, violence is a common motif in many pictures with images of explosives, guns, and gas masks repeated throughout the photo essay. All of these pictures by Dickinson share the same message: police brutality needs to be stopped. 