This photograph was taken by Perry C. Riddle, a photographer for the Chicago Sun Times during the 1968 Democratic Party Convention. The country had been split between people who were for the war in Vietnam and those who were against the war in Vietnam. The Youth International Party and the Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam had been planning to hold a youth festival in Chicago to correspond with the dates of the Democratic National Convention. Ten thousand demonstrators crowded the city to protest the war in Vietnam and faced twenty-three thousand police officers and National Guardsmen because the Mayor of Chicago at the time, Richard Daley refused to grant the parties the right to protest legally. I chose this photograph because it reminded me of the current rift in society. It reminded me of the peaceful and not-so peaceful protests going on right now throughout the country, and I felt like this photo really captured the way that EVERY American, regardless of who they voted for, is feeling right now.
