Analysis of a photo by CNN
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The look in Derek Chauvin's eyes was something worse than hate
Images and soundbites from the Derek Chauvin trial will linger in people's memories for years. But there is one heart-wrenching image that stands above the rest.
It was the look of indifference in Chauvin's eyes on May 25, 2020, as he casually drained the life out of George Floyd. That was as chilling as his knee on Floyd's neck. And what it represents could pose the biggest challenge to broader police reforms ahead.
That look was freeze-framed in what the prosecution dryly called "Exhibit 17." It shows Chauvin, the White Minneapolis police officer who was found guilty on all three counts in Floyd's death, glancing at a crowd of onlookers while bearing down on an unconscious Floyd, who is handcuffed and pinned face-first to the pavement.
The look on Chauvin's face is one of bored disinterest. His sunglasses are perched on his head and his hands rest in his pocket. He doesn't seem to notice Floyd at all. The only flicker of emotion on his face is his annoyance at the crowd that has gathered to plead for Floyd's life.
That will go down as one of the defining images of our era because it tells a story about racism that many people don't want to hear.You know what wasn't mentioned during the trial?
Race.
Nice to know that CNN's analysts can detect a racist from a still frame of a video.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Analysis of a photo by CNN:
Nice to know that CNN's analysts can detect a racist from a still frame of a video.
Please love yourself.
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@aqua-letifer punchable!
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Pictures are pretty amazing things. A good photograph will live forever.
But the other side is photographs like this. If I was at a funeral, and someone was filming me the whole, I am sure that one frame of the funeral, I maybe would have a smile or slight smile on my face. They could take that photograph and easy make it sound like I was happy to be at the funeral.
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@taiwan_girl said in Analysis of a photo by CNN:
Pictures are pretty amazing things. A good photograph will live forever.
But the other side is photographs like this. If I was at a funeral, and someone was filming me the whole, I am sure that one frame of the funeral, I maybe would have a smile or slight smile on my face. They could take that photograph and easy make it sound like I was happy to be at the funeral.
Yeah, the whole "a photograph doesn't lie" thing is pretty ridiculous. Todd Hido considers photographs to be somewhere between a novel and a film in terms of what kind of imagination the viewer has to provide in order to interpret the message. I think that's true, but I like John Free's explanation better: he claims he never took a picture of what something was, only what it could be.
I don't think he was being colorful, either, I think that's actually what happens.
