My Lai Massacre: 'Q. And babies? A. And babies.' (Part 1)
As the Vietnam War continued the amount of massacres of Vietnamese Citizens escalated. The My Lai Massacre was one of the worse events that happened during the war, it sparked huge outrage across America and particularly for those protesting against war.
On March 16th, 1968 a group of American soldiers raided the village of My Lai, killing women, children and unarmed men. They also raped and mutilated young girls and women before murdering them. “I saw them shoot an M79 (grenade launcher) into a group of people who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else,” In total 504 people were killed without a single bullet being fired back at the American soldiers.
When the news of the Massacre hit the American public it was not only the massacre its self that caused outrage but the fact that the scandal was covered up for a year. Officers downplayed the bloodshed, and covered it up until a soldier who had heard about the massacre brought the events to life. The US army were forced to investigate, 28 officers were charged with covering up the massacre and only 14 men for the killings.
The bitterness of the massacre and the cover up caused the US public to question authority figures and especially the US army. As images of the Massacres emerged Anti War protesters used and edited them to protest. One of the most famous photographs used was ‘Q: And Babies? A: And Babies.’ which was published in 1970, by the Art Workers Coalition.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75611/q-and-babies-a-and-poster-haeberle-ron-l/
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/09/shock_swept_nation_when_my_lai.html
http://www.redlineartworks.org/section652294_311497.html
