My piece of protest art expressed opposition to the brutal violence of the far-right death squads in El Salvador, which were part of extremist paramilitary groups that terrorized their own people and which were secretly funded by American aid. This work was critical more broadly of all of the far-right death squads in Latin America which were supported by the US in order to suppress far-left revolutionaries. These extremist militant groups killed many innocent people in order to stamp out communist political movements, yet many of their victims were not even communists, but centrists or people uninvolved in politics altogether. This piece of art was important because there was American support-as part of the Cold War-for brutal regimes and groups which devastated the lives of innocent people for political purposes. America sought to support these anti-communist forces even though they carried out tremendous violence. There was a lack of awareness among the American public of the kinds of atrocities which were being perpetrated by those with US support. Additionally, there was also a lack of concern-likely due to racism-for the lives of Latin American people, who were viewed as pawns in the greater geopolitical struggle against the Soviet Union. Golub used this protest art to awaken American hearts to the injustices being enabled by the American government. He portrayed the victims and perpetrators with white skin in order that his American audience could connect to the violence. The portrayal of a policeman who is wearing a uniform which looks American also taps into the American understanding of police violence and seeks to apply that experience to the terror occurring in Latin America. Today this painting resonates very differently because it just appears to be an American policeman to a contemporary eye rather than a foreign militant force. Modern onlookers are familiar with images of policemen wielding their guns and forcing innocent people to the ground and this image evokes an objection to unrestrained police violence. Additionally, the kind of power which is exerted over the civilian depicted and the villainous resentment displayed by the officer’s facial expression provides the American viewer with a sense of cruelty. The officer displays total callousness, which is an appalling indictment of what the justice system does when contrasted with how it ought to act. Those who are more geopolitically acquainted may see in this work an allusion to the kinds of US military aid which is still given to ruthless forces-like Saudi Arabia in prosecuting their horrific war in Yemen. However, the average American viewer of this piece today feels the brutishness of the American police above anything else.

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