Rachael Palinkas

Who is Rachael Palinkas?

Rachael Palinkas, is an aspiring photojournalist who is best known for her photography of an Anti-Iraq War rally and march in downtown Portland, Oregon in 2007.

One of the photos showed black-masked protesters burning a uniformed effigy of a U.S. Soldier.

Rachael, or "Rocky", as her friends call her, uploaded the photos to her online Facebook photo album and by the next morning her email inbox was flooded with hate mail from all across the country from people believing she was part of some radical group. They also said, she "should be tried for treason" and "should be deported". Even though she told visitors to her Facebook page, "I don't support this."

She posted 240 photos from the rally on her Facebook site. The rally drew 15,000 people and almost all of Palinkas' photos showed "people laughing, talking, dancing, marching" at what she called a "family-friendly" event. But, she said, "No one is linking to those photos." Only 13 of the 240 images in Palinkas' Facebook album show what she describes as "the extreme fringe."

Initial responses included the photos appearing on local news networks as well as Palinkas appearing on right-wing radio talk show The Lars Larson Northwest Show via a phone interview. Palinkas has since registered the copyrights in the photographs she took that day.