This week’s top photo comes from photojournalist and Photo Desk Editor Ashlee Rezin. Follow her on X and Instagram.
What makes this photo important?
About 60,000 Lithuanian Americans live in the Chicago area, and my colleague Stephanie Zimmermann’s late mother was one of them. She fled as a child when the Soviet reoccupation began in 1944. When Stephanie first approached me about traveling to Lithuania, to eventually produce six stories, my knee-jerk response was, “Why?” But Stephanie’s enthusiasm is infectious, and I soon also fell in love with the small Baltic country with deep roots in Chicago. Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union as recently as 1990, and I was impressed by the citizenry’s civic engagement. Stephanie and I conducted interviews with more than 50 Lithuanians during the two weeks of our trip, and the majority were ready to work to preserve their country’s independence, including as members of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union. It was a privilege to witness such passion in defense of rights many Americans — including myself — take for granted, such as free speech and freedom of the press.
How I got this photo
My last day in Vilnius was spent at a free speech protest in Cathedral Square. Thousands draped Lithuanian flags over their shoulders and stood in the rain for hours. The protest was one of several that have been staged after a right-wing populist party in the government’s ruling coalition tried to control the country’s Ministry of Culture and threatened the independence of its public broadcaster, Lithuanian Radio and Television. The size of the crowd was overwhelming. To show the scale of the protest, I sought high ground up a flight of stairs, behind the stage. From there, I spotted a young girl, chanting and singing as if she herself had survived the Soviet Union’s repression at least 36 years ago. I wondered if her parents or grandparents told her stories of 1991’s “Bloody Sunday,” when Soviet soldiers killed 14 Lithuanians who were trying to stop the seizure of the Vilnius TV Tower. Regardless, she was clearly brought up with an admirable passion for democracy.
Technical details:
- Equipment: Canon EOS R5 with an RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens
- Focal length: 119mm
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Exposure: 1/4000
- ISO: 1250
Plus, 12 more great photos from Sun-Times photographers from this week in news:
Mayra Macias, left, and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), independent candidates vying for U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s congressional seat, attend a hearing Tuesday at the offices of the Illinois State Board of Elections in the Loop. The board ruled that both Macias and Sigcho-Lopez lacked enough valid signatures on their nominating petitions, and cannot appear on the November midterms ballot.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Chicago police officials investigate Monday after a SWAT officer was one of two people shot in the 4600 block of North Springfield Avenue in Albany Park on the Northwest Side. The veteran officer was shot as cops tried to breach a home where a teenage girl and another female were being held by a suspected gunman, according to CPD.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Ronald “Ron” Vann stands in the “soil room” he supervises June 30 at Fillmore Linen Service in North Lawndale on the West Side. The commercial laundry facility at 4100 W. Fillmore St. makes up a portion of the 168,000-square-foot Fillmore Center, funded by the Steans Family Foundation to create more opportunities in North Lawndale, where upward mobility has been stifled for generations by disinvestment, high unemployment and poverty rates and violent crime.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times