One Picture
On Monday morning, November 10, somewhere around 80 U.S. Border Patrol agents, including Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, posed in front of Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculptor (affectionately known as the “Bean”) in Millennium Park. The photographer instructed the agents to say “Little Village” instead of “cheese” just before he snapped the trigger. When informed of the photograph, Kapoor told ARTnews:
I am deeply horrified and saddened that US Border Patrol has chosen to rally in front of Cloud Gate for their self-congratulatory photo-opp. In my view they are no different to SS Nazi troops, intimidating citizens and the people they deem to be immigrants.”
Kapoor has indicated that he is considering legal action, which would not be a first. On June 19, 2018, Kapoor filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (the “NRA”) for copyright infringement following the NRA’s unauthorized use of an image of Cloud Gate in a promotional video. In December of 2018, Kapoor and the NRA settled the lawsuit. Following the settlement, the NRA removed the image from the video, but it is unknown whether Kapoor received any compensation from the NRA.
Yesterday, I learned from another photographer that a man would be staging a photo shoot at Cloud Gate at 1:00 PM today to counter the photo shoot staged by Commander Greg Bovino. Following the Veterans Day rally at Chicago’s Vietnam War Memorial along Chicago’s Riverfront, I headed over to Millennium Park. I arrived just in time, capturing the above photograph. Within a minute, the group disbanded.
Click here to see the original photograph with the Border Patrol agents (and Bovino) posing in front of Cloud Gate. Notably, Bovino’s Tweet that includes the photograph propagates Donald J. Trump’s false claims, or more aptly “Fake News.” Bovino claims that “since we’ve BEAN here, crime is down: Homicides down 16%; shootings down 35%; robberies down 41%; carjackings down 48%, and transit crime down 20%.” I will assume the percentages are correct—although Bovino doesn’t identify the period used to measure the decline— but I have serious doubts whether the decline is directly related to the presence of Bovino and the U.S. Border Patrol agents. More likely, the decline reflects seasonal trends attributable to the shift from the summer months to the fall ones. The Chicago City Office of Inspector General has published data reflecting seasonal trends. While not conclusive, the published chart shows the number of monthly arrests declining as the temperatures drops. These are arrests, not reported crimes. Once again, Bovino’s language is less than clear. Do percentages reflect arrests or reported crime?
Moreover, any decline in crime is likely unrelated to the Border Patrol’s presence. Correlation is not causation.
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