BATON ROUGE, LA – It what has been a truly tragic start to July in the United States, an image of a woman peacefully protesting in Baton Rouge is being called one of the most significant news images of recent times.
Reuters photographer Jonathan Bachman captured the moment Saturday at a protest in the wake of Alton Sterling's death showing a woman in a long summer dress standing defiantly against a line of Baton Rouge officers dressed in riot gear.
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The Atlantic identified the woman as 28-year-old nurse from New York, Ieshia Evans. The image struck a chord with many people across social media in the wake of several deadly shootings across the country.
"Baton Rouge is fed up, and grieving. Put the Robocop outfits, guns and batons down, this is not helping," Twitter user @VanJones68 wrote.
"Baton Rouge PD looks ridiculous. I never wore so much armor in combat. This is their own community," Brandon Friedman wrote.
Brave lady in Baton Rouge.
— Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) July 10, 2016
Brave man in Tiananmen Square. pic.twitter.com/Zy4CaMwUF9
Baton Rouge PD looks ridiculous. I never wore so much armor in combat. This is their own community. (Photo: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/clCFFyD6jx
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) July 10, 2016
Geezus literally the police look like Imperial storm troopers... Wow. https://t.co/wUBO7xQAiz
— Ken Yeung (@thekenyeung) July 10, 2016
The Atlantic interviewed Bachman and he said the protest wasn't violent and that the Evans stood there without saying a word as the officers approached her.
Racial tensions remained high across the country as many people were arrested in several protests after the deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota and the ambush shootings of five white police officers in Dallas by a black gunman.