But as police began detaining demonstrators who had blocked off Airline Highway in front of Baton Rouge Police headquarters, he happened to see and photograph her during her arrest, Bachman told the Atlantic.
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Sterling’s death, and the fatal shooting of another black man, Philando Castile, near St Paul, Minnesota, revived a wave of protests over police treatment of minorities that has swirled for two years and has given rise to a loose movement called Black Lives Matter.
But the stand-off with one woman in particular, captured in a widely used image by Reuters freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman, has for some encapsulated the spirit of demonstrators across the usa fighting in the past week against what they decry as unjust treatment of minorities by police. “I am a vessel!”
Ms Evans has a five-year-old son and left him with his father because she “wanted to look her son in the eyes to tell him she fought for his freedom and rights”, a friend told Reuters.
“I went into the street with my arms crossed and just stared at them”, Daily Mail quoted Evans as saying to a friend.
“I’m just out here trying to tell the story of what’s going on in Baton Rouge and it’s very humbling to be able to take a photo that really resonates with a lot of people”, the photographer told BuzzFeed. 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.
“I’ll catch her once in a while in the mornings”, Ms. Luciano said.
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She spent about 24 hours in detention after her first protest venture along with 131 other detained protestors. “I appreciate the well wishes and love, but this is the work of God”, she posted Sunday night on Facebook after she was released. She was one of 102 protesters reportedly arrested and charged with obstructing a highway that day. Because even though she said she wasn’t scared, I sure as hell would have been. On a Facebook page that appeared to be hers, Evans described her actions as “the work of God”. “I’m glad I’m alive and safe”, she wrote.
