A WORLD BEHIND A LICENSE PLATE

da LA REPUBBLICA

A world behind a plate.

Well, I look at this photo. It shows me a riot in Detroit ( so it is writed on my newspaper – La Repubblica –  in the Fourties. It seems right because, also I can read not well the plate, from Europlate web site I know that AA*12*34 is registration form used in these years, and because the number of the year seems bottom, could be of 42,43, 45,47,49.

I read BA*20*45

But I’m asking to myself some other. Who was the owner of the car? He bought this car making a lot of sacrifices, working hard, signing a lot of billes that he had again to end  paying? Was he  seeing what happened to his car?  Why did those men choose quite this car? It was the first they see or perhaps they knew this car owner and  were they angry just whit him?

If I was an historian, perhaps I could do a historical research in Michigan license plate registration office, to find who was the owner and to know better his history, his family history.

This is a strange photo, we don’t see any policeman, the people behind (on the left) the car seem looking with curiosity and astonishment;  just only one man appears making the overturning of the car. The man with glasses is looking at the camera, smiles, I think he has in an  hand a cigarette, behind him there is a big man that is railing against someone that we don’t see (policemen?)

There is more and more, but it’ difficult to me to write in English.

Someone see only riot on this photo, some other see only a Michigan historical license plate, I try to see  a world behind this plate.

This is one of the reason because I love license plates