There has been outrage after a Ugandan climate change activist was removed from a photo taken with Greta Thunberg and other climate change activists.
Vanessa Nakate, a 23-year-old Ugandan climate activist who attended the World Economic Forum 2020 at Davos along with Greta Thunberg and others, was disappointed to see that she had been cropped out of a photo published by news agency, Associated Press. She then took to Twitter to address it.
On Friday, January 24, Nakate took part in a news conference on climate change, which was attended by other climate activists like Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Isabelle Axelsson and Loukina Tille.
After the press conference, a photo of the activists was taken but by the time it was published online by the news agency, they had already cropped Nakate out.
This angered people as they accused the news agency of racism, since she was the only African activist at the conference.
Reacting to being cropped out of the photo, Vanessa took to Twitter to write: “I was cropped out of this photo! Why?”
She also shared a ten-minute long video on what it means to be cropped out of a photo. Sobbing in the video, Vanessa Nakate explained how the experience was the “hardest thing.”
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What it means to be removed from a photo! https://t.co/1dmcbyneYV— Vanessa Nakate (@vanessa_vash) January 24, 2020
In another tweet, Vanessa posted the original photo with her face in it and wrote: “You didn’t just erase a photo You erased a continent But I am stronger than ever.”
Greta Thunberg too responded to Nakate and said “I’m so sorry they did this to you… you are the last one who would deserve that! We are all so grateful for what you are doing and we all send love and support!!Hope to see you soon again!!”
Following the criticism, Associated Press responded saying that there was no ill intent on their part, and that a number of images have been published of Nakate from the conference.
