What do you see? This is America

What do you see? Few people, let alone me, need tell you the power of these images. And one in particular. The utter raw fear on the woman’s face.

Her reach — cry for help. The grip by a military police twice plus her size, decked out as if he were fighting paramilitary insurgents.

Is this some far flung place beyond the US’s shores where television viewers’ empathy can be inversely proportional to its distance? No, this is America, 2020. The power of this image, its punctum, is unequivocal. Yet its symbolism connects the future and shows dread.

In a week where Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out a congressman’s disregard, misogyny, and abuse to her and in her oratory all women, also referencing the occupant in high office, how does this image play on the conscious? This image represents a perspicuous fear.

If this can happen, what more is permissible? Symbolism! Is there a place and right to protest, what, in the mourning of Congressman John Lewis he called “Good Trouble”-the need to call out injustices. Is. This. Acceptable? Politicians, represented by the people may require they search deep into their hearts.

What do I see? I see a mother and what could be the person she brought forth into the world, her son. The trauma from this indelible image, is yet to surface.