By Peter Hvizdak, Register multimedia photojournalist
On Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012, I had a flashback while documenting a march and rally in East Haven, Conn., protesting racism by the East Haven police department and the town's mayor. Some counter protestors in East Haven covered their faces so they could not be identified. I made a mental snapshot of it during the event as it made me think of my coverage of the Ku Klux Klan in Connecticut in the 1980s, and how technology for photojournalism changes with the times.
I covered the East Haven march Saturday using an iPhone connected to a portable wireless hotspot to transmit a live video feed to the New Haven Register's website in real time as I interviewed participants of the march and rally as well those opposed to the event.
In the 1980s, I documented with still photographs the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Connecticut while on assignment for the Associated Press, the New Haven Register, the New Haven Journal-Courier and as an independent documentary photographer.
Although the march and rally last Saturday in East Haven was peaceful, I was reminded that human nature, for the most part, doesn't change with the times.
Misunderstanding, mistrust and tension between groups of people who differ on controversial subjects will usually lead to upheaval.
Often, in my professional world, I find that people often want to fight first over opposing views instead of finding a common ground. Passion takes over. Agendas take over. Conflicts happen.
My job is to bring stories home to the readers of the New Haven Register and beyond, regardless of the technology available to me. So, in an homage to still photographs, I found a few prints from my personal files that reminded me of a time when the printing press was the primary medium for photojournalism.
Today, as a "multimedia" photojournalist at the New Haven Register, I am giving a new life to these photographs using the new website-based New Haven Register Media Center.
The captions on these photographs are generic because they were culled from prints stuffed into old photographic paper boxes and various portfolios stashed away in a rented climate-controlled storage unit during a recent move.
I have seen many representations of hate through the lens of a camera. These photographs are a few of those representations. Click here to view the photo gallery.
For some historical background information on the Ku Klux Klan please go to these websites courtesy of Google:
1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old. (photo: Lewis Hine)
1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature.
Settled in for the night with Occupy New Haven. I've learned so far: Put the tarp up even if it's not supposed to rain until Wed.. Find out where the Porta-johns are before it gets dark. If you're really cold, stuff your pants with hand warmers.
1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
The fire was used as evidence by the Nazis that the Communists were beginning a plot against the German government. Adolf Hitler, used the incident to suspend civil liberties, and instituted mass arrests of Communists, including all of the Communist parliamentary delegates. With them gone and their seats empty, the Nazis went from being a plurality party to the majority; subsequent elections confirmed this position and thus allowed Hitler to consolidate his power. (Wikipedia)
1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag by photographer Joe Rosenthal producing perhaps the most famous war photograph n history.
1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
1972 – Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T on it's way to becoming the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single design platform anywhere in the world. (photograph by - Basic Transporter)
Today - February 15, 1898 - The United States Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260 people and precipitating the Spanish-American War.
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