"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Sunday, March 13, 2016

scary shooting

Trump arrives


I attended the Trump rally at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City last night. I sat in on only 15 or 20 minutes of the scary craziness inside; honestly, I was getting too upset to stay much longer. The way he riles up his audience is quite skillful and deliberate. The crowd was on its feet chanting and cheering, making it hard for anything much to be said. After the fourth time Trump demanded that a protester be removed (and the crowd was basically calling for blood at that point), I had to leave. And there were two young children sitting in front of me. The messages they were hearing and the behavior they were seeing? As I said: scary.

Most of the pictures I took were in front of the venue. The police had divided the two political camps: Trump supporters were on the west side of the street, while the protestors were on the east side. The police, some on horseback, attempted to keep the sea apart by lining up in the middle of the street. Each time the protestors stepped off the curb, the police called out. At one point, several stepped into the street, and the police sprayed mace in their faces.

I stayed the course and spent a couple hours shooting.

I was trembling when I left.








































































Here's a video I shot of the police pepper-spraying protestors who stepped into the street:




Here's a video I shot of protestors following police orders:





12 comments:

Rane Bo Cross said...

My god. It's just horrific, the spraying. Excellent photodoc and video capture. Thank you for your perspective.

Anonymous said...

Great photo essay! Thank you for sharing. - MJ

aardvark_foto said...

Thank you for sharing your images and comments, Gloria. I went there, but arrived late, after the pepper spray incident. A friend of mine, Doug Warren, was one of the recipients of the spray. I think we have been getting a slanted view from most of the media. I like what you have added to the conversation.

https://www.facebook.com/hayley.a.jennnings/posts/10154090499499623?pnref=story

Anonymous said...

Thank You. So deeply horrified...

aardvark_foto said...

Copy and paste this link to your browser to hear what one of the protesters said shortly after being sprayed.

https://www.facebook.com/hayley.a.jennnings/posts/10154090499499623?pnref=story

* * * * * WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE * * * * *

Anonymous said...

Powerful images. Thank you. - Leah

Anonymous said...

Very sad, very scarey.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing these Gloria.
From Allison

Unknown said...

Thank you for capturing this fiasco. He should be ashamed of how he is pitting one against another.

Anonymous said...

Terrifying. These are the best pictures I've seen from the rally. You are a very good photojournalist! - Laura

Anonymous said...

NOT IMPRESSED. OBVIOUS LEFTIST VIEWPOINT.

Anonymous said...

These are a beautiful representation of unfortunate events