A KKK child and a black State Trooper meet each other, 1992

 

The trooper is black. Standing in front of him and touching his shield is a curious little boy wearing a KKK hood and robe. In this photo, innocence is mixed with hatred, the irony of a black man defending the right of white people to assemble in protest against himself.

The Ku Klux Klan was holding a rally in the northeast Georgia community of Gainesville, where the white supremacist group hoped to breathe some life into its flagging revival campaign of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Todd Robertson was hired as a backup photographer for the local daily, The Gainesville Times.

At the Klan rally, there was no forceful activity for Robertson to record. According to news reports that day, there were 66 KKK representatives, surrounded by three times as many law enforcement personnel. The downtown intersection was otherwise empty, with about 100 observers on the sidelines, most of whom were there to demonstrate against the Klan.

White supremacists were out of town with no real local support in Gainesville. Many of the people who came to these Klan events were not from the city.

While reporters and staff photographers focused on the speakers at the rally and looked for possible signs of conflict, Robertson chose to follow a mother and her two young boys, dressed in white robes and the KKK's iconic pointed hat.

One of the boys approached a black state trooper who was on the ground holding his riot shield. Seeing his reflection, the boy moved toward the shield, and Robertson took the photograph. Almost immediately, the mother swooped in and took the child, whom she identified as "Josh," from Robertson.

The moment was fleeting, and almost no one noticed it, but Robertson captured it on film. Since that moment the photo has become an iconic image of American race relations and the statement "No one is born racist."

Campbell had some sympathy for the little boy named Josh. Neither Josh nor Campbell decided to go there that Saturday over Labor Day weekend in 1992, the retired soldier said. “The state patrol took me there. His mom and dad inspired him to be there,” said Campbell, who retired as a master trooper in 2009.