A New Perspective on "Child Looks Into Barrel of Rubber Bullet Gun During Protests in Long Beach, California"

Photographer, Richard Grant, captured a photo of a child sitting atop their father's shoulders during the Long Beach, California protests that followed George Floyd's death. It appears as if the cops in the photograph are pointing a rubber bullet gun directly at the father and child. The photographer recently posted the unedited photograph to Instagram and a caption stating that the photograph is not fake and that he does not believer the officer was intentionally or directly pointing the gun at the father and child. This statement by Richard Grant combats one of the reasons that perhaps the photograph went viral in the first place. Namely, that the officer was deliberately pointing the gun directly at the child. "First thing the photo is not fake. It is not Photoshopped. What I saw through the viewfinder is what is here. There was color correction and cropping so it could look better on Instagram when I posted it. I have stated before that I do not believe in the 1/500th of a second that the picture was made in that the officer was aiming at the man with the child. This is an uncropped photo with no color correction. I used a 24 -70mm lens at 70mm and f 3.5." Deliberate or not, the photograph reminds us to stop and think about the impact the events of 2020 are having on our children today and in the future.

June 2, 2020

Richard Grant

Shanna Gagnon

HST580

Arizona State University

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