I had seen this photo when it was first shown and thought long and hard about it. I believe that police here had no ill-intentions, however, they still made a big mistake and I am glad to see that this practice is ending. I will be honest, my gut dropped when I saw it, especially when learning that it was recent. This image is disturbing for several reasons. First, it reminds us of our country's unconscionable past of promoting and even fighting for slavery. This past is still with us today, in large part because even after emancipation, many in the US, including in government continued to discriminate against African Americans. For example, the National Housing Act of 1934 explicitly discriminated against African American communities and African Americans. Later, when African American veterans tried to use the GI Bill, realtors discriminated against them. Banks would not loan to people living in African American communities. This resulted in the terrible conditions of inner city slums. Of course, many blamed African Americans for this outcome, but it was really discrimination by those in power. Some of this discrimination continues, though now it is often directed at anyone who is poor (you know, they must be lazy, right?)

The second reason for the outcry over this image is due to Trump's divisive, hate-filled speech that is usually directed at "others" typically with dark skin, or anyone he can vilify to satisfy his base who seem incapable of separating fact from fiction. I have to honestly say that this is the first time in my 50+ years on this planet that I am truly ashamed to be an American. Our ideals are much higher than the photo above, much higher than Trump's hateful rhetoric, and the chants of those at his rallies. Yet it is clear that Trump is just a symptom and that
that symptom has revealed that our racist past is still present in a rather large percentage of people today. We really have not come that far in the last 200 years.

In this context, the image above is indeed disturbing. And wanting 1819 justice is regressive thinking that fits the kind of hate-filled speech that Trump encourages. As a citizen of the world, the US (and a Texan) it saddens me to see the state that we are in.