A powerful image has emerged in the wake of protests around the country calling for an end to police violence against black communities. It’s been hailed as “legendary“and “iconic“for poignantlycapturing the spirit of the movement. Its subject, Ieshia Evans, 28, was arrested shortly after the photo was taken by Reuters’ Jonathan Bachmanon Saturday at a Baton Rouge protest over the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police. Evans, a mother and nurse from Brooklyn who lives in Pennsylvania, stared down a line of heavily armed police as two armored officers rushed forward to handcuff her. After being released from prison, Evans spoke out. “I just need you people to know,” she said in a Facebook post. “I appreciate the well wishes and love, but this is the work of God. I am a vessel! Glory to the most high!”
In an interview withThe AtlanticpublishedSunday, Bachman said the moment “happened quickly.”
“I had my attention on people confronting the police on the side of the road … I had turned to look over my right shoulder, I think that I had heard this women say something about she was going to be arrested, and I saw this woman, and she was standing in the first lane in that road,” the photographer said.
“It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn’t going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. To me it seemed like: You’re going to have to come and get me. And I just thought it seemed like this was a good place to get in position and make an image, just because she was there in her dress and you have two police officers in full riot gear.
“It wasn’t very violent. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t resist, and the police didn’t drag her off.
“It’s representative of the peaceful demonstrations that have been going on down here. I understand that officers have been hurt in other cities, but down here it’s remained peaceful.”
Now, Bachman’sphoto of Evans is being compared to other iconic imagery of protestation, like theTiananmen Square”Tank Man,”a photo of an unidentified man who stood in front of a column of Chinese militarytanks in 1989.
