The Klucker and the cop

rajue    says:

unbelievable! thanks for posting this!
TWTME
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

jobarracuda    says:

nice capture.
...a salute to policemen for doing such a complicated and most of the time unappreciated job.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

Desitins Child    says:

wow. ... wow. What a shot. amazing - the composition and their expressions makes them seem so close to each other. If you didn't know what the uniforms meant, and what the colors meant in this context, you might have a very different reading. Nice work!
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

monkeytime    says:

Superb. America in all its good and bad angles in one shot.
[utata]
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

Soft Verges says:

only in america! !POWERFULL! fAB!
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

suttonhoo    says:

wow Rey -- what a moment. what a capture. what an eye.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

jason.s    says:

Wow, powerful shot Guy. I also find it interesting the white dude has his face revealed.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

ReyGuy    says:

Today's Klansmen: Out of the closet :-) I've only covered two KKK rallys and their faces weren't covered. As I recall (24 years ago so sketchy) there was little violence at this one in Austin but there was some and some arrests made. This photo was made when several Klansmen were moved into a protected area and the police were warning protestors to stay back.
The one in Indianapolis in 1992? turned real ugly and two of our staff were attacked by the crowd and had cameras stolen but that happened away from where I was. Fun times.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

possum4all    says:

Hah....awesome new icon you're sporting there, Guy! Heh.

Love the irony of this shot, buddy! Super capture! You've seen so much of the world. Man I'd love to buy you a beer (or two) and just listen to some stories.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

ecstaticist    says:

This is a deeply affecting image. Talk about evoking conflicting feelings. Freedom, warts and all.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

mjp3000    says:

Now if only he would repeatedly move that night stick about 18" to the right... Great catch Guy.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

andrew_dolph [deleted] says:

My good friend Chris Cappoziello has a really great essay on the KKK:

chriscappy.com/

You may have also seen his essay on breast cancer in Time Magazine many months back.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

BuckarooBob    says:

Wow--what a situation. A great shot.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

Matt Hickey says:

Thank you for this image - wonderfully evocative of the time and place.
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

mirabilisjalapa2000 says:

:D Nice shot,great composition:DDD
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

FuzzyB says:

nice capture
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

Jacob...K    says:

Absolutely amazing shot......I love how it looks like the irony is completely lost on the two.....
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

ReyGuy    says:

you're right Jacob. I'd bet that never occured to the cop anyway.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

monkeytime    says:

I have to imagine the cop would have caught the irony.

"Hi, honey, how was your day?"

"Oh, the usual. I protected a guy from getting the crap beaten out of him. He'll be burning a cross on our lawn tonight and bombing our church Sunday morning..."



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Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

tuxmelvin says:

I'd like to think that the experience was a changing one.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

osiris321 says:

I had a black GF a few years ago who worked as a paramedic. She once gave CPR to the head of the local Klan after he had a heart attack. He woke up to see a large black woman on top of him.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

subcorpus says:

white guys scared shitless eh ... ?
nice shot ... nice cap ...
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

randomb0y    says:

That's what you see in the picture. Five seconds later he was shoving that baton up the KKKr's ass. Can't really blame him either.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

adventurerneil says:

Amazing shot... much more inspiring than seeing a cop beat down a pacifist college protester.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

roooostishaw says:

I don't get it. Is the KKK guy hiding behind the cop during the riot?
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

monkeytime    says:

@ roooostishaw: From ReyGuy's caption, I don't think it was quite a riot, but the police were protecting the Klan guys from being set upon by protestors.

And look at that mustachioed macho Klan Man – he looks like he's about to piss his pants. There's your White Power... with a yellow trickle running down its leg.

@ MikelFreak: precisely what do you mean by "kill nigga"? To paraphrase Richard Pryor, I don't see any "niggers" in that photograph.

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Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

BuckarooBob    says:

Wow, Reyguy--almost 18,000 views! (almost like having it published in the daily paper or something!) Great one--a fave for sure.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Matias H. Dominguez says:

I think is more than job. if i was him...don't know...
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Pacopi's choice says:

wonderfull world
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

The Polstar*    says:

this has to be the most viewed photo on Flickr! stunning
pity it has to be of a bigoted, rascist tw@t!
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Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

tastygiant    says:

and the ignorant bastard looks scared out of his mind. but he's accepting the protection....


As seen in Polstar*'s contacts
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Rsms    says:

Fantastic story. Good picture. You have any more images from this happening?
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

swatman67    says:

A blck man in the south protecting a white southern rascist, my how times have changed. I bet the KKK guy was all for brotherly love that day!!!!
The officer should have kicked the KKK guy out into the crowd and let the idiot fend for himself.

GREAT SHOT!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Jacob...K    says:

Who knows though.....maybe it changed the way he saw things.....
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

ReyGuy    says:

42,000 views and no tits, ass, cleavage or boobs (unless you count the man in the silly hat). Priceless!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

L8o    says:

..great story!

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Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

ReyGuy    says:

you like my last comment too?
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

monkeytime    says:

Ha, ha! I love your last coment, ReyGuy. Plus, "you said 'boob'!" ;-)

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Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Alice Swanson    says:

speechless...just brilliant...
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Jonathan Harel    says:

Great capture and story!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

possum4all    says:

I'm back to say Yay! Yay for 42k views with no naughties! Quite an accomplishment, really.

(Only shot that I've ever seen that had as many views and didn't have boobs in it was this tragic image of Beavis. )
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

ReyGuy    says:

Wow. That's awesome. Not the picture but the number of views. Must've been blogged all over the place too. Doesn't hurt to have more than 3,000 contacts on Flickr either.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

L8o    says:

"charged with protecting a klansman"

ReyGuy    says:

one of many uses of charged: to lay a command or injunction upon: He charged his secretary with the management of his correspondence.
made to do something you might not really care to do....
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

cycℓops (mjlearmouth)    says:

to serve and protect... if I was the cop I might have "accidently" whapped him in the nose! Great photojournalism!!
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Trish Mayo    says:

Fantastic photo - congratulations to the officer for a job well done and the courage and integrity to do it. I would hope that the KKK person had the decency to thank the officer and perhaps a change of heart about wearing those robes.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

princessangel    says:

Great capture...............too bad your camera didn't have a club that came out of the lens to knock that ignorant KKK man out! Did I say that..............I agree with mjlearmouth!
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Jenni & Brett    says:

What's best, this KKK guy didn't have his hood down so all his fellow idiots will see him cowering behind the cop. I bet at the next meeting he was pretty much ridiculed beyond belief! Haha, not so superior now are you buddy?
Posted 25 months ago. ( permalink )

Madasor says:

amazing !!!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

arcketipo says:

Great capture.....great story!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

Tammil    says:

Someday you really have to stop and think about whether or not your job is for you. I respect the officer for doing his duty and wonder exactly what the other man told his friends and family about the incident later.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

knots    says:

in the sixties cops in Montgomery Alabama made deals with hordes of racists awaiting the Freedom Riders. The deal was simple, we'll give you thirty minutes to attack them, then we show up and break it up. Funny the irony of that situation juxtaposed with this picture.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

lKR1S says:

Thats crazy!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

clautes says:

best pic !
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

zen_some    says:

I completely abhor the Klan, its' values, and its' message.

HOWEVER, I am so very thankful that they have they right in this country- along with EVERYONE ELSE with an offensive or potentially offensive point of view- are allowed to speak their mind in a peaceful demonstration. Even if it goes completely against my beliefs, my values or my culture.

The freedom of speech is here for all of us. It is a treasure that I think so many of us take for granted. I think a lot of us also misinterpret it to mean "speech that doesn't offend me or others." It's clearly not that at all.

Why have the freedom of speech at all if it shall not be there to protect patently offensive speech?
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Euro Kouro    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called I, Witness (Global Photojournalism), and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

High Def    says:

You sure that's not NYC? I have a hard time believing the self proclaimed "last of the white niggers" was actually a klansmen.

Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

El Andariego. says:

Pulitzershot!!!!!!!!!! Unforgettable. Congratulations master.
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

sid_napo_orso_capo    says:

m'inquieta
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

mightyquinninwky©™    says:

What a great shot... true justice would be the cop breaking his nose...but only in a perfect world and they wouldn't exist there except to clean toilets or something...sad the KKK is still with us in the 21st century... the human race has really hit a plateau in development..
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Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

Gobble Gobble Hey says:

But when you become a cop you do seem to choose, when it is a Klan rally the Klan always gets protected while protestors always get either attacked, entraped or caged in! The state always protects racists and cops choose to be cops and chose to protect that state. As NWA said "...black police showin out for the white Cop..."
Though I will say it is a good photo!
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

Just Back    says:

A+
www.flickr.com/groups/the_world_through_my_ey es/pool/
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

labanex.com    says:

Interesting
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

loo1970 [deleted] says:

great shot - i attended a protest in austin several years ago when these guys rolled into town - we drummed until our fingers were raw - it was amazing
Posted 19 months ago. ( permalink )

its mike    says:

wow! this is an awesome capture of irony. great stuff!
Posted 18 months ago. ( permalink )

buggs    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Police Officer Photographers, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 18 months ago. ( permalink )

MxxxxM says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Socially aware photographers, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

lifesundeath    says:

sellout!
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

Zlatko Unger    says:

Wow ... thats pretty interesting ...
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

Craig !    says:

ReyGuy - great shot. Surprised at the lack of asinine comments (you'd expect more kooks! :)

You're on Reddit so prepare for lots of views again. If you're interested, turn on your stats, and it will show you where your referrals are coming from. Takes a day, but very cool.

Cheers
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

CRASHOVERIDE69_97 says:

I love the filename - spaceball.jpg
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

\< says:

excellent photojournalism. actually took me a couple seconds to get this.
Posted 16 months ago. ( permalink )

Fluffz of tha Geenz :) [deleted] says:

How strange - a member of the KKK is being protected by none other than a black person (no offense to anyone who may take that offensively), who they usually go about killing and such. Id have left him there.
Posted 12 months ago. ( permalink )

Wildpixie    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Shoot A Cop!, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 10 months ago. ( permalink )

bewofthe says:

a white supremacist hiding behind the race he so hates for protection.. if this does not show what absolute worms the kkk are. i do not know what would...
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

Olivia M1 says:

Hello!

Great photos! Congratulations! I hope you also like mine, If you want please be my contact...or just send me a letter
oliviam025@gmail.com

Kiss

Olivia
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink )