Amanda Moore, the 26-year-old write and blogger who clicked the photo of a little girl with a pink hoodie and ponytails playing with a glow stick in front of an armed National Guardsman deployed to quell the Baltimore unrest, tells the story behind the now viral and ‘heart-warming’ and ‘cute’ picture.
Everyone thinks this picture is cute. I took it, and I think it’s tragic. #BaltimoreUprising http://t.co/u7s5h1x2n5 pic.twitter.com/IsyttuXu2l
— Manda Moore (@manda_writes) May 3, 2015
“I just thought it was really strange, and it really was sad. It was sad for the National Guardsmen because they had to be there, it was sad for Baltimore. And it was sad to explain to your children what’s going on,” Moore told TODAY.com.
When Moore took the picture, people were celebrating news about the criminal charges filed against the police officers who had murdered Freddie Gray in custody. “It was such a contrast. All these men in uniform, and all these riot cops next to them, and then all these happy, cheery people. And then to see this little girl go up and interact with them?” she said.
The 2-year-old little girl in the picture, Mckenna Mack, was being watched at the time by an aunt and several cousins, said the girl’s mother, Danielle Farnsworth. “I actually thought it was extremely sweet. Of course, what’s going on is very tragic but there are moments, like this one, that you can bring up the positive in it and not focus on the negative. They were just sharing a moment. She’s only two years old. She’s innocent. She was enjoying herself bringing light to people around her,” she said of Moore’s photo.
At the end of the day, the image did speak for itself; it did get people thinking about Baltimore and United States as a whole. On Reddit, where the photo got over two and a half million views, one of the commenters wrote:
And then, someone clicked this:
Baltimore needs more of this, little girl blowing kisses to the National Guard. pic.twitter.com/SATJHe9g15
— Robert Breckel (@rbreckel) May 2, 2015
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Who trained them to hold their weapons like that~tragic.
its the national guard what did u expect 😛
Seiously dude, any newbie soldier knows proper muzzle awareness….the picture however does instill a feeling of sadness, and hopefuleness at the same time. Sadness that the country has come to this, but hopefulness that in the end, innocence and purity, like that child, will reign victorious.
How does one hold it?
Not pointing at another guardsman’s junk
You hold it with awareness of where the barrel is pointed at all times. You need to be cautious of the end where the pointy thingys come out….
Well with two hands you have the butt of the weapon on your shoulder and your hand on the trigger and the handguard.
Well on chill well camp I had to hold the weapon inwards towards me with the muzzle pointing in the air like on parade, as long as muzzle isn’t Facing friendlies, or put in the dirt then it’s fine
Well definitely not pointing at the child. It should actually be shouldered.
Never point a gun at something you don’t intend to shoot.
The only one holding their weapon wrong is the guy on the left with the shotgun. The others are doing nothing wrong. He’s holding it so the weapon is pointed at the other guys kneecaps.
I didn’t know that them holding their weapons a certain way was the point of these pictures. Move around
The weapon needs to be held in a fashion that shows it is at rest, yet ready to be used if needed. at rest, the weapon should not be pointed in the direction of any living thing, should the weapon accidentally discharge. Life is not an action movie, the weapon always pointed and in a ready position.
It must have been hard for the soldiers to be there, in a way.
guess what the national guard wouldnt be there if the people from baltimore weren’t so ignorant.