Anti-War Protest at Abilene Christian University

[gregkendallball]

Hello, everybody. This morning, on the UN International Day of Peace, a small group of students at Abilene Christian University staged an anti-war demonstration. It is possibly the first organized demonstration protesting a war in the school's 102-year history.

It was a low-key, silent affair. The only real trouble was when some military reservists took umbrage at their presence. One U.S. Marine reservist actually spat at one of the student protesters.

Here's a few pics, but you can find more at my blog, or on my flickr (which you can find through my blog, too)

[Comanche]

Good work - especially number 1. Thanx for sharing.

[Anthony Martinez]

I really like the first image. My appologies on behalf of the rest of ther Armed Forces for the reservist that elected to spit on a protestor. He apparently missed the briefing about selfless-service, and dignity.

Regards,
SGT Anthony J. Martinez
United States Army - Infantry
FOB Hammer, Iraq

[Comanche]

SGT Martinez - Thanx for the apology, but you don't owe any of us a thing - its us who must thank you. Thanx for your service.

[pentaxtexas]

Wow, an anti-war protest at ACU!

Great pictures, btw.

[gregkendallball]

SGT Martinez,
No apologies necessary. I think this young man simply forgot himself due to the heightened emotions of the day.

It should be noted that Abilene Christian University is affiliated with the Churches of Christ/Stone-Campbell movement, which was once considered a "peace church," with several members serving prison time for refusing to serve during WWI and WWII. Things changed, obviously, and there are rumors that this is the first organized war protest on campus.

[rusty_tripod]

It is about time that people felt safe enough to publicly reject the idea of the war. It is unfortunate, however, that individuals believe that opposition to the war is a lack of support for our fighting men and women. Abilene has not been known for its tolerance of dissention over the years.

[CaptainTom]

please respect the rules of TPF and leave the political remarks for other forums.

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=30757

These are some good images of an event. Thanks for sharing them with us.
It is good that we have forum members who are interested in covering events as photojournalists.

[Anthony Martinez]

My comments were not intended to be political, nor spark comments of a political nature. If they did, that was not my intention.

[HotHolly]

The B&W is really good. Evocative, and really draws the viewer in. I can see you are a busy guy! Always in the middle of things and always prepared. Do you just always have your camera around your neck or what? ;o)

[Comanche]

Originally Posted by Anthony Martinez

My comments were not intended to be political, nor spark comments of a political nature. If they did, that was not my intention.

Of course, Captain Tom would have to speak on his own behalf, but I think he was referring to the other comment made about the ability to speak against war.

Nonetheless, the rules of the TPF are there to keep us from spinning into the flame wars seen on too many other fora, so we should just talk about the photographs themselves.

And - speaking of - how about some photos from Iraq? I can't think of anything more pure into the topic of photojournalism than photos from somebody in the midst of it.

[ElanR]

Originally Posted by Anthony Martinez

I really like the first image. My appologies on behalf of the rest of ther Armed Forces for the reservist that elected to spit on a protestor. He apparently missed the briefing about selfless-service, and dignity.

Regards,
SGT Anthony J. Martinez
United States Army - Infantry
FOB Hammer, Iraq

Don't be so quick to apologize, Anthony. The Marine might have simply been offended as a Christian by one of the signs you're not being shown here, such as the one below. And we are not even told how he is identified as a Marine reservist to begin with.

Greg, a good photojournalist should be able to deliver the complete story without the use of words. How close do you think you are to doing that with this post? In my view, the most important part of your story is not documented.

[gregkendallball]

Elan,
I only posted a few shots here, with a link to the photoset of more than 100 that tell the "whole story." I didn't attempt to do that with just one photo.

[ElanR]

Originally Posted by gregkendallball

Elan,
I only posted a few shots here, with a link to the photoset of more than 100 that tell the "whole story." I didn't attempt to do that with just one photo.

I actually scanned through eight pages of photos on your Flicker page before posting my reply. There was not one image presenting any kind of conflict or misbehavior by anyone. The only image coming close to showing disagreement was of that one friendly fellow who was wearing a 'support the war on terror' shirt.

Again, as a PJ, you shouldn't even have to 'tell' us anything as your images should tell the story. But since you did, I find it curious that you don't have the photos to support this part.

[Tapper]

Elan,

Extremely good point. But I think, too, that photos should be used to illustrate a story - in other words, they augment the text, and the two together tell the story.

In looking at the photos above, I wonder at what story they do tell?

"Anti-war Protest held at ACU" - which might leave the viewer with the impression that the students of ACU are against the war, or:

"Anti-war Protest held at ACU and Only 8 Show Up" - which tells rather a different story - implying that very very few students at that school are against the war.

I guess the point I'm making, is that not only should the photos tell the story, but they should also tell the true story. Since photos seldom show more than small isolated or micro-views of an event/happening/whatever, I really think that photographs standing alone, with no explanatory text, are more often misleading than not.