The Best Visual Response to the NYC Truck Attack

Melissa Bender posted this photo on Instagram a few days after the truck attack in Lower Manhattan. The attack was carried out by an ISIS-inspired, legal U.S. resident born in Uzbekistan. With the White House immediately politicizing the bike lane carnage, Trump calling for a further dismantling of the immigration system, the picture operates like a critical counterweight. In the portrait, we see three NYPD officers at the scene of the terrible event. The one in the center is wearing police headwear, the kind approved for Sikh officers in place of traditional turbans. What makes the image exceptional is how routine it is. In the current climate, the photo serves as an act of solidarity while these men are just doing their jobs.

-Michael Shaw
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(Photo: Melissa Bender/@melissabenderphoto. Caption: “Morning after the attack in Lower Manhattan, along the West Side Highway.”)⠀