A photo of an African-American woman with police at a Black Lives Matter rally in Baton Rouge, La. is surging across the internet. The photo shows Ieshia Evans calmly standing in the street as two Louisiana State Police officers in full riot gear rush forward to confront her.
This will surely become one of the most iconic images of the 21st century #LeshiaEvans pic.twitter.com/mE3E5vh6Wd
— will brooker (@willbrooker) July 11, 2016
It was taken this weekend outside of the Baton Rouge police headquarters where Black Lives Matter supporters were protesting the death of Alton Sterling. Sterling, a Baton Rouge resident, was shot to death as two officers tried to arrest him. The shooting was filmed and shared on social media.
The protesters were also there to air their grievances on the treatment of black men and women by law enforcement officers across the country.
Since the photo was taken, it has circulated around both social media and news websites, drawing comparisons to other powerful photos like the “woman in red” photo from Turkey in 2013.
Evans is a 28-year-old nurse from New York. This was her first protest. Shortly after the photo was taken, Evans was arrested for blocking a public roadway. Details on Evans’ current whereabouts and status are not yet known, but this one moment in time appears to be becoming a lasting one for both Evans and those affected by her image.
Also arrested at the protest was prominent activist and Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson. His arrest was also caught on camera and circulated on social media. Mckesson criticized the handling of the protest by police. He stated that the protestors were demonstrating peacefully and that:
“The police want protesters to be too afraid to protest, which is why they intentionally created a context of conflict, and I’ll never be afraid to tell the truth… What we saw in Baton Rouge was a police department that chose to provoke protesters to create, like, a context of conflict they could exploit.”
Watch footage taken by the Black Lives Matter protesters in Baton Rouge here:
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
