This Photo of Ohio Cops Posing with Black Lives Matter Protesters in Cleveland Is Awesome

“Maybe we can all work together?”

Black Lives Matter protesters from New York City pose with Ohio police on Monday outside the GOP convention in Cleveland.James West

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


In the blazing sun of Cleveland Public Square, under the 125-foot-tall Civil War Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument, an awesome thing just happened—something that defies some peoples’ expectations of what would take place at the Republican National Convention.

Two Ohio cops accepted an invitation to briefly join a group Black Lives Matter protesters—mainly from New York City—in front of a big black-and-white “Cleveland” sign. They stood and posed for photos. The protesters laughed, then raised their fists. The cops smiled, and the scene ended with mutual camaraderie.

The moment occurred amid escalating tensions between law enforcement and protesters nationwide. Earlier this month, two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were killed by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota—the latest in a series of controversial police shootings.

On Sunday, three police officers were shot and killed and three others were injured during a gun attack in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an incident that occurred just 10 days after an ambush of Dallas police killed five officers and injured nine people.

“Sometimes these photos can look a bit cheesy,” I told one of the Cleveland protesters, Elhadj Bah, a 29-year-old political consultant from New York. “Why did you do that? What’s the point?”

“The key is to work together with everybody, law enforcement and all of that stuff. It’s not creating division or hatred,” Bah said. “Maybe we can all work together?”

“It changes their perception,” Bah added.

I couldn’t chase down the cops in the photo in time to get their reactions (or their names.) They were quickly lost to the milling crowds of Trumpians, protesters, musicians, and reporters. If you can identify them, let me know.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate