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Writing about one’s efforts fiddling with aging cameras and the film that goes in ‘em seems like a trivial exercise lately. Here in the US within the last month, we’ve had two mass shootings—both committed by 18-year-old males with high-powered weapons. The most recent, 19 children and two adults were murdered at a rural Texas elementary school. The other, about a week or so previous, the shooter was a white supremacist who drove 200 miles to kill black people where they shopped in Buffalo, NY. That murderer killed 10 as they shopped for groceries, and injured three others.
Those horrors, which have become all-too common here in the US, came after a draft of an opinion from our Supreme Court (with the majority of its members appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote) was leaked that revealed it’s set to rule for the first time to take away liberty rather than to expand it. Meanwhile, the pandemic lingers and the world watches anxiously a European conflict not seen since WWII.
It’s no surprise many people feel a wee bit powerless at this moment in history. One way to combat that feeling is to gather (outdoors—we’re still in pandemic, folks) with like-minded people and, with solidarity, speak out against these injustices. And speak out we must.
The photos here highlight the rally in support of Ukraine on Sunday, March 6, 2022, at the Minnesota State Capitol. It seems strange to think back to that time, not long ago, when, despite the dread, there was for the first time in years a hint of unity in the United States in support of Ukraine. Because, as the invasion dragged on deep into March, it was clear Vladimir Putin and the Russian military’s strategy was to target Ukrainian civilians with terroristic enthusiasm.
Further, when the war in Ukraine started, anyone who paid mild attention to history and lived through at least a chunk of the Cold War understood the stakes, which was the reason for the worry. No one wanted to believe it would happen, because if it did, everyone expected Russia’s invasion would be swift, and would they stop at Ukraine? At worst, we would have WWIII. At best, another Cold War.
It was under this gloom that the rally was arranged at the capitol. I thought it would be a fine thing to attend—if only to add to the collective support, and to document it with words and using one of my aging cameras (perhaps I felt that would be a more permanent entry amid the digital flood to which I contribute). Plus: “It would be good for [the punk] to see this,” I said to my wife. She agreed. And off we went.
I’ve been to bigger rallies and protests. This one, however, while still good-sized with several hundred people (at least), was notable for its somber unity amid immigrants from former Soviet-oppressed countries and intense enthusiasm to reject Putin’s modern imperial dreams.
We breathed easier for a moment at the start of April, thanks to the Ukrainians. As we know now, the Ukrainian military was well prepared, and repelled the Russians from the north of their country with the weapons from NATO countries to defend their land. They stopped the Russian army’s goal of taking Kiev, but, as the invaders fell back, we learned the criminal horror of their occupation, first in Bucha, with further brutal evidence in other areas, and in its leveling of Mariupol.
Now, as the war heads into its fifth month, we look to the Ukrainians for inspiration. They do not take their freedoms for granted. By defending each others’ rights against an authoritarian regime bent on subjugating them, Ukrainians prove they have something we’re letting atrophy in our society: a sense of civic duty to each other.
Cameras
Black & white:
- 1948 Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic 4×5
- Fomapan 100 film loaded in Grafmatic film holder
- Kodak Ektar 127mm standard lens with K2 (yellow) filter
- Used as handled via Kalart rangefinder
Color:
- Canon EOS 80D
- Tamron 16-300mm lens
