“With everything going on I immediately just thought, ‘Wow, what a powerful photo.’. Then I realized it was me. The words are still hard to find, but I wanted to share the one thing that did go through my mind in this moment. As a child, I grew up with a single white father and who was originally from Chicago. He taught us from a young age that things were going to be different for us just because of the color of our skin. One of the things he used to remind us constantly was that ‘no matter the threat, always look them in the eye so they have to acknowledge you’re human’. My father passed 16 years ago this month. In this moment, those are the words that went through my head. When I lifted up my glasses, he saw me. I saw him. He was acting out fear, I know that. I hold no malice in my heart for this man. I hope this moment will soften him. I hope he will be changed. But even if he isn’t, I am.” – Samantha Francine
When I look back on this moment in history, I know this will be one of the images I will always remember. It’s not necessarily because of the photo, which in and of itself is so powerful. It tells a story without using a single word. The angry white man with fists clenched, towering over the black woman; seeking to “communicate” via intimidation, using both language and body language.
Listening to the video (not shown here) filled in the blanks. The man was screaming and swearing in the woman’s face. The woman, while saying nothing in return, raised her sunglasses to look at him in the eye. He was going to say what he was going to say, but he was going to see her while he did so.
She made the choice to look up at him, even as he was looking down at her. He walked in circles, spewing hateful words, unraveling in a failed attempt to control her or the others in the crowd. He couldn’t even control himself.
She, on the other hand, chose a measured response. Her silence was her choice, not his. What her silence gifted him in that moment was the opposite of what he deserved. In strength, she also chose compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. She chose to see his pain even while in her own. This was not a natural response.
“The response that has the potential to reverse the natural course of things isn’t natural. The catalytic response is the least intuitive response. The response that makes the most difference in a positive direction is the response that we are least likely to choose.” – A.S.
An angry response would have been more than justifiable by any human’s standards. But she chose instead to offer better than what comes naturally to us all. She responded to him the way God responds to us, with unmerited mercy and grace. Not because of who he is, but because of who she is. His hate cannot diminish her true worth or identity and she clearly knows that. Hopefully, he will come to understand that.
Her father’s hope was that we would always see one another’s humanity. My hope is that we all come to see ourselves and other’s how the Father sees us. All created in His image, every single one of us. “There may come a time when it will be possible for you to humiliate your worst enemy or even to defeat him, but in order to love the enemy you must not do it… The Greek language has another word [for love]. It calls it agape.
Agape is more than romantic love. Agape is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men. Agape is an overflowing love, a spontaneous love, which seeks nothing in return. And theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart.
When you rise to love on this level you love all men, not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, not because they are worthful to you, but you love all men because God loves them. And you rise to the noble heights of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. And I think this is what Jesus means when he says, ‘Love your enemies.’ – MLK
hindsight 
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