I had a hard time choosing a photograph because I have never really given much thought to photography, or to a favorite photograph or photographer. Completely at a loss, I instead tried to think about what photographs have affected me emotionally. This summer in Washington D.C., I visited the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo gallery in the Newseum (www.newseum.org). By the end of the gallery, I was in tears, along with almost every one else in the room. Some of the moments captured by these photographers are so painful and so horrible that it is difficult to even look at the photographs.

Though not one of the most gut-wrenching ones, I thought this photo was really interesting in terms of capturing an important moment of history. In 1974, a judge in the US District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the racial division of schools in Boston was unconstitutional, and implemented a radical busing plan that sparked violent opposition from both sides of the racial divide. In this photograph, a young white man, Joseph Rakes, is attacking an African American lawyer, Theodore Landsmark, using the American flag as a lance. The photograph is effective because it captures the hatred on Rakes' face and the fear on Landsmark's right before he was stabbed. Rakes' use of the American flag is obviously what makes this photo so shocking, as the flag that is supposed to be a symbol of unity and pride is used as a weapon in a violent confrontation between races. The photo captures the conflict and pain of desegregation in America and freezes an integral moment in our history.